Russian and Belarusian officials meet in...

The tone of the negotiations, which center on Russian electricity supplies to its exclave of Kaliningrad but also concern transit to the Baltic States via Belarus, is very different to the bitter wrangling over a pricing structure for oil deliveries in 2010.

A Belarusian Energy Ministry spokeswoman said the negotiating positions were not far apart and the dialog was constructive.

"We expect that an agreement will be reached very soon," Lyudmila Kovich said.

After the last round of talks, in Moscow on Thursday, an official for Russian electricity producer Inter RAO UES called the negotiations "measured."

Belarusian electricity monopoly Belenergo said on January 4 that inconsistencies in supplies to Kaliningrad might force it to stop transit of electricity via the Belarusian grid.

The warning followed the collapse of talks on New Year"s Eve on an agreement for crude oil deliveries in 2010. The confrontation over oil tariffs has still not been resolved,

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