Russian railways denies Estonian oil disruption

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state railways denied oil supplies to Estonia had been stopped because of a political row, but some traders on the route said oil trains were still blocked on Thursday.

"What the traders are saying is completely untrue," Yelena Kulakova, a railways spokeswoman, said.

"There is maintenance going on but it happens every year. All the orders will be fulfilled. We don't have the right to refuse to deliver. The repairs won't affect the volume of trade at all. The volumes can't be cut. The plan for May has been finalised."

Estonia's embassy in Moscow also saw no evidence of delays.

"All I know is our Estonian railways have made the same statement, that there's no interruption and everything is proceeding according to the schedule," said Estonian embassy spokesman Franek Persidski.

"It's difficult to estimate whether it's serious or not. I can only cite Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has said that economic sanctions are not reasonable means to use in relations with Estonia."

Russian oil firms rushed on Wednesday to re-route a quarter of their refined products exports away from Estonia after traders said the state railway monopoly was not accepting volumes slated for May shipment.

"Nothing has changed since yesterday and as of today nobody has got permission to send their volumes by rail towards Estonia," said a major operator on the route on Thursday.

"Some firms have already re-routed their products to other destinations. Gazprom Neft for example will deliver naphtha to Kaliningrad.