RBC Daily: “Russia Is Our People”
Artyom Oparin, Lyudmila Novikova
Alexander Lukashenko: I read you
Belarus will not bargain away its friendship with Russia. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was trying to reassure Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday. The rest of the negotiations lacked concrete substance.
Officially Vladimir Putin went to Minsk to attend a summit of the Union State. The agenda included government loans, gas, trade relations, nuclear plants and joint air defence. Mr Putin congratulated Mr Lukashenko on the election results stressing that this was the choice of the Belarusian people. Alexander Lukashenko accepted the congratulations and reciprocated by saying: "Our relationship with Russia is not a bargaining chip in our talks with the West. Russia is our people." Then he left.
Thereafter the talks were conducted by Belarusian Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky, who first spoke about the economy: "The international climate is changing as a result of a number of factors, including the world financial crisis and the deployment of a US missile defence system in Europe. These changes call for new cooperation between our two countries especially in the economy."
According to Mr Sidorsky, this necessitated the proposal of a number of issues to be put to the Supreme Council of the Union State on November 3. All the other topics on the agenda were only touched upon. The issue of a $2 billion loan requested by Minsk was suspended: Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin merely said, "Everything is fine; the two countries are working on a solution."
An RBC Daily source in the Belarusian Government said that informally the Russian position was more pointed: "You recognise the two republics and we give you the loan."
Also, there was no progress on the topic of a joint air defence system. Belarusian Defence Minister Leonid Maltsev declined to specify a deadline for the signing of the document: "We will tell you as soon as we sign it."
An RBC Daily source in the Russian Government added that the agreement on a regional air defence system in Belarus may be signed before the year is out. Another issue discussed was the common Russian-Belarusian currency.
"I would like to stress our interest in further strengthening currency integration, including the creation of a currency pool and the more extensive use of the Russian rouble in mutual settlements," Vladimir Putin said. Mr Sidorsky did not object.
"If Belarus says it is prepared to switch to the rouble, it means that either Russia has made serious concessions or, on the contrary, has simply presented an ultimatum," Belarusian economist and political scientist Stanislav Bogdankevich told RBC Daily. On the one hand, it would weaken Belarusian sovereignty, on the other, Minsk has a debt of almost $7 billion, and switching to a common rouble would make it easier to repay the debts."
