MOSCOW, March 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's crude oil exports declined 3.6% year-on-year in January to 18.64 million metric tons (136.7 million barrels), the Federal Customs Service said on Thursday.

Oil exports in the reporting period yielded $5.55 billion in revenue, the Federal Customs Service said.

Russia exported 1.44 million metric tons (10.5 million barrels) of oil worth $348 million to former Soviet republics, excluding the Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia in January, the service said.

Exports to other countries totaled 17.21 million metric tons (126 million barrels) yielding $5.19 billion in revenues, the service said.

According to Russia's Federal Statistics Service, crude oil output in Russia declined 0.8% to 41 million metric tons (300.5 million barrels) in January 2009.