Belarus, Russia to gradually move away from parallel imports - ambassador

MINSK. Jan 18 (Interfax) - Belarus and Russia will gradually move away from using parallel imports, the Belarusian ambassador to Russia, Dmitry Krutoi said.

"Certainly, the instrument of parallel imports that Russia and Belarus are using now was a responsive measure to the first shock from western sanctions and it is, probably, justified," Krutoi was reported as saying on Tuesday by state news agency BelTA after talks with Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov.

"It was impossible to stop production facilities that use critical imports for a broad range of components, parts and so on. But today [the two countries'] presidents set an objective for deputy prime ministers responsible for industry that subsequently this list of parallel imports should be reduced. And those intermediaries who are used should gradually recede into the past as our own import substitution projects are implemented," Krutoi said.

"I think that in 2023 already this problem will not be as acute as last year and we will gradually wind down this work," he said.