MINSK: Belarus signalled a growing rift with Russia yesterday, saying President Alexander Lukashenko did not attend a security summit in Moscow in protest against a Russian ban on dairy imports.

Ties between the former Soviet republics have been strained since 2007. Minsk is angry at rising prices for Russian gas and Moscow by Lukashenko's growing overtures to the West.

Lukashenko was due at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which groups Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.