European leaders criticised President Putin yesterday as he stepped up his battle of wills with President Lukashenko of Belarus over the future of Russian oil supplies to Europe.

Russia threatened to bypass Belarus and seek alternative routes for delivering oil to the European Union unless Mr Lukashenko scrapped a tax on supplies delivered through the Druzhba, or Friendship, pipeline. Russia closed the pipeline on Monday in retaliation.

Mr Putin made plain that Russia, the world’s secondlargest oil exporter, was ready to reduce output rather than bow to demands for the duty, which Belarus has been claiming by siphoning off oil from the pipeline. He lashed out at Belarus, which is deeply dependent on Russian energy, saying that it continued to enjoy the most favourable terms from Russia despite a doubling of gas prices last week. Belarus introduced its transit tax after Russia imposed an export tax.

Moscow said that it acted to prevent Belarus from profiting by up to $4 billion (£2 billion) from the re-export of products made with cheap Russian oil.

German Gref, the Russian Economic Development Minister, said that the Government was working with the state pipeline operator, Transneft, and the state railway to plot routes for Russian oil exports to Europe that excluded Belarus.

He insisted after meeting Andrei Kobyakov, the Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, that there would be no negotiations until the Government in Minsk lifted the duty on transit of oil to Europe.

In a sign of mounting EU concern about the confrontation, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, scolded Russia for cutting the pipeline without warning. Her criticism was matched by José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President.

Speaking in Berlin after meeting the Commission to mark the start of Germany’s EU Presidency, Mrs Merkel said: “It is not acceptable — before actually consulting us, consulting others in any way — to resort to such a policy that destroys trust and erodes trust in building for the future, and we need to tell the Russian Government such consultations are the very minimum.

“If there are bumps in the road it needs to be part of normal life, as it is in the EU, to consult with one’s partners.”

About 40 per cent of Russian oil exports cross Belarus through the pipeline, which pumps more than 1.2 million barrels a day into Europe. It provides almost a quarter of Germany’s needs and 96 per cent of Poland’s imports, as well as supplies to Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Viktor Khristenko, the Russian Energy Minister, admitted that oil transit through Belarus could not be replaced immediately, but said that it was possible in the medium term by expanding a pipeline system to the Baltic states and the Black Sea.

The confrontation between Russia and Belarus exposed a swift deterioration in relations between two neighbours supposed to be on the road to forming a single state. Experts said that, in reality, relations between Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko had broken down.

Lilya Shevtsova, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Centre in Moscow, told The Times: “Moscow set out its political conditions for Belarus either to become part of Russia or pay for its refusal with gas price hikes. Putin’s nerves have reached their limit, but Lukashenko thought it was just a game and that he would win as usual.

“Now he understands that he is dead if he accepts these gas and oil prices because his economy will collapse. He is cornered and has started to bark, because such an aggressive dictator doesn’t want to die peacefully.”

Transneft has filed a court claim in Minsk against its Belarussian counterpart for siphoning off oil.

Mr Lukashenko had to accept a doubling of gas prices with Russia’s state-controlled monopoly Gazprom, which had threatened to cut off supplies to Belarus’s 10 million citizens.

The EU’s oil supply group will meet in emergency session in Brussels tomorrow to examine how to co-ordinate the share-out of emergency stocks among member countries if the dispute escalates.

The Commission played down the possibility of any immediate shortage of oil supplies, pointing out that the emergency stocks would last at least 120 days.

Refineries in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, which rely on the Druzhba pipeline, reported that their crude processing had been affected. They have been forced to start drawing on operational stocks.

The dispute coincides with the Commission’s presentation today of a package of measures to strengthen Europe’s energy policy. It emphasises security of supply through developing a network of supplier countries.

10 per cent of Europe’s oil comes through the pipeline

Source: BP, US Government

1.4 million barrels per day carried by the Friendship pipeline, enough fuel to power 70,000 cars once around the Earth

44 per cent of all European oil imports come from Russia, representing 82 per cent of Russian oil exports

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