Ukraine sent its first shipment to Kazakhstan through Russia

Almaty. January 20. Silkroadnews - Ukraine dispatched its first convoy of eight trucks to Kazakhstan through the territory of the Russian Federation, “Ukrinform” reports.
“Today the first eight cars have been dispatched with a convoy on the territory of the Russian Federation. The escort cost is $350 per truck. According to the preliminary information, the escort shall not accompany the cargo every day”, the Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine, Natalia Mykolskaya said.
Giving explanations on the escort situation the Deputy Minister noted that “as of January 11 all the vehicles of Ukraine are redirected in transit through the territory of Belarus, as for the territory of the Russian Federation, the vehicles shall wait for the escort there”.
According to the official, the situation with Russia impeding the Ukrainian vehicles in transit through its territory remains quite tough. In particular, 197 wagons were returned to Ukraine from the ones exported through the railway. Of them 128 wagons were redirected via Belarus, yet only 48 wagons got transported at the border between Belarus and the Russian Federation.
“Ukrinform” reminds that as of January 1, 2016, the Russian Federation stopped the transit of goods from Ukraine through its territory completely. Some cargos are allowed to the territory of Russia through the Belarusian-Russian border only.  Later, on January 15, Ukraine launched a pilot flight train container along the route of Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China, passing through the Caspian and Black Seas and designed to diversify the transit routes bypassing Russia.