Gazeta: “Brest becomes gateway of the customs union”
Vladimir Putin inspects the last outpost between the Atlantic and Kamchatka.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited Brest on Tuesday, where he chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. The main items on the agenda were a review of progress in fulfilling last year's joint plan on anti-crisis measures and compliance with other existing agreements. Vladimir Putin admitted that many such agreements existed only on paper.
After the meeting, Mr Putin vented his disappointment over Lukashenko's behaviour, in particular over his failure to recognise the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
"Russia expected Belarus to support it quickly, vigorously, and effectively. This is not happening. We can see that," Mr Putin said.
At the same time, he stressed that Russia has always come out for the "normalisation of relations between Belarus and its Western neighbours," as well as the United States. "If it takes place along these lines, that already indicates a positive effect," the Russian prime minister concluded.
The border with Belarus is the only remaining border between the Atlantic and Kamchatka.
Before the meeting, Vladimir Putin and Belarusian counterpart Sergey Sidorsky held talks behind closed doors for almost two hours, sorting out common positions on practically all contentious issues. Opening the meeting of the Council of Ministers, Vladimir Putin proposed that they immediately approve the items that had already been agreed upon regardless of the 23 items on the agenda. These included the Union's fuel and energy balance and a forecast of demand and supply for key products. As a result, the Council of Ministers raced through the 23-item agenda in about half an hour. Mr Sidorsky said that the energy balance will rest at 21.5 million tons of oil, of which 6.3 million tons will be supplied by Russia duty-free.
The prime ministers paid particular attention to implementing their joint plan on anti-crisis measures and reinforcing bilateral economic agreements. No problems arose over the first issue; both Putin and Sidorsky recognised that the plan had yielded tangible results and had increased bilateral trade by 17% in the first three months of this year.
However, regarding the second item, the Russian prime minister had a litany of complaints. Mr Putin said that many of the interstate agreements existed only on paper and instructed the Ministry of Economic Development together with the Belarusian Economics Ministry to thoroughly analyse the legal framework of the Union and prepare recommendations for the Council of Ministers at their next meeting.
While Putin's criticism targeted mainly the legal framework of the Union, Sidorsky devoted much of his speech to the creation of the Customs Union and the resulting shift of the Union's common border to Brest. Earlier that day, Mr Putin had the chance to see that Belarus was prepared for the influx of goods from Europe, which will now be destined via Brest for Russia and Kazakhstan duty-free. Mr Putin visited the recently revamped customs station Kozlovichi-2, which can now process up to 4000 trucks a day. "We have once again demonstrated the capacity of our border, which will become the only border between the Atlantic and Kamchatka with the introduction of the common customs space," Mr Sidorsky declared solemnly.
Lukashenko ignores his Russian guest
Although the Council of Ministers did not come up with any sensational decisions, Putin's visit was marred by a scandal. The Russian prime minister's mood was soured by the behaviour of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who pointedly left the country on a visit to Venezuela. On previous occasions, he used to have talks with the Russian and Belarusian prime ministers before the start of the Council of Ministers meetings.
This time, however, the Russian government's press service said that a meeting between Putin and Lukashenko had not been scheduled in the first place. Gazeta's source at the Belarusian president's administration, on the other hand, said that a meeting had initially been planned and that the Belarusian leader was supposed to leave for Caracas on Tuesday. However, he pointedly left for Venezuela ahead of time on Monday evening. "This was the first time Lukashenko failed to meet the prime minister before the meeting of the Council of Ministers," the source said, adding that the Belarusian leader had left it to Sidorsky to sort out all outstanding issues.
Ugolnikov hides behind the "Fortress of Brest"
The meeting of the Council of Ministers came within a hair's breadth of being disrupted by speculations regarding the resignation of popular showman Igor Ugolnikov, head of the Union State Broadcasting Organization. The State Secretary of the Union, Pavel Borodin, acting on purely personal motives, called for a no confidence vote in Ugolnikov, who is in charge of information policy within the Union State, our source says.
However, there are objective reasons for the move as well: Mr Ugolnikov has been head of the Union State Broadcasting Organization since May 2006, but most Russian citizens are still unaware of its existence.
Gazeta's source at the Lukashenko administration said that eventually the move for a no confidence vote on Ugolnikov was suppressed in order to avoid a public scandal. "Information policy" was put on the official agenda, although Ugolnikov's personal case was not raised during its discussion.
Meanwhile, in order to have something to show for himself, Mr Ugolnikov reported on the shooting of a Russian-Belarusian full-length feature film titled "The Fortress of Brest," which will be completed in time for the 65th Victory Day anniversary. Mr Ugolnikov's only request was for additional money for distribution.
Anastasia Novikova
