Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have begun a new round of talks in the Kremlin. There are a number of issues on the agenda, including the pricing of Russian natural gas. Belarus seeks for ways to offset the losses it will face in the wake of Russia’s oil tax maneuver, while Russia is concerned about violations of customs laws, TASS reported.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that "there are some nuances [concerning the tax maneuver] in their approaches that are to be discussed."

The two presidents will also compare their stances on the whole range of bilateral matters, including the development of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, Peskov said, adding that a large part of the meeting would take place behind closed doors.

On December 24, the Belarusian president said at a meeting dedicated to pressing cooperation issues that Moscow had rejected all suggestions Minsk had made concerning gas prices and ways to offset financial losses. "We were supposed to resolve all issues related to gas prices by the middle of the year, in St. Petersburg Vladimir Putin and I agreed to resolve all issues stemming from the tax maneuver. However, Russia rejected all of our suggestions and the deadline was not met," Lukahsenko said.