With Minsk relaxed as ever on car imports, Russians look set to continue buying foreign-made cars with low import duties in Belarus, Vedomosti business daily said on Wednesday.
Before the customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan became fully operational in July, Russian officials said they would not allow the import of cheap foreign cars from Belarus to Russia.
Individuals can import second-hand cars from Belarus to Russia free of charge on condition that these cars were imported to Belarus before January 1, 2010, according to the Russian Federal Customs Service. Owners of cars that were imported to Belarus after this date have to fork out the remainder of the import duty upon registration in Russia.
But Belarusian car dealers say the sale of second-hand foreign cars in Belarus to Russian buyers has hardly affected Russia's indigenous car industry, since only a few thousand cars were imported to Belarus before 2010.
However, Russians can import new foreign-made cars bought from official dealers in Belarus without any restrictions.
A new Volkswagen Touareg with a 4.8 liter diesel engine costs around 2.9 million rubles ($93,900) from an Atlant-M car dealer in Moscow, and $84,200 in the company's Minsk branch.
RIA Novosti
