'No immediate risk' to EU oil after Belarus pipeline cuts

Belarus has blocked the transit of Russian oil through its territory to European countries including Germany and Poland, news reports said today, raising the stakes in a bitter energy dispute between Russia and the neighbouring former Soviet nation.

The head of the Russian state pipeline operator Transneft, Simon Vainshtok, accused Belarus of siphoning off Russian oil through the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline that was destined for Europe since the weekend.