Foreign agents and zmagars saw several “scandals” at the “secret meeting” of Putin and Lukashenko
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko spent three days in Russia last week. He arrived in St. Petersburg, from where he flew to Valaam. Russian President Vladimir Putin was waiting for him there. The leaders did not make any statements to the press either during the meeting or on Sunday, which gave rise to speculation about a “secret meeting” both in Belarus and among the emigrant opposition community.
Finally, today Lukashenko revealed what he discussed with Putin at a meeting on international issues, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“I no longer know what kind of foundation is needed on my part in order to build a good house for our relations. And the strategic issues have been resolved - decisions have been made on the main issues, as well as tactical ones,” Lukashenko said.
He clarified that a new oil pricing formula, recycling fee and prepayment for oil were discussed.
“Here he even became indignant. “What advance payment?! All my life I worked without advance payment. We can continue to work,” Lukashenko said.
He reproached his subordinates for not being proactive enough in Russia's negotiations and shifting all important problems to the president - and promised that all issues should be resolved in the fall at the celebration in Minsk of the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Union State. According to Lukashenko, this applies to aircraft manufacturing, microelectronics, machine tool manufacturing, as well as roaming, airport inspections and the media holding of the Union State.
The details of the “secret meeting” were revealed by Minister-Counselor of the Belarusian Embassy in Russia Alexander Shpakovsky. According to him, an agreement on security guarantees, which is planned to be signed, “Ukrainian terrorism” and a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine were also discussed at Valaam.
“To say that everything happened in a closed format: yes and no. On the one hand, the presidents really communicated without ties, without the press, and visited a holy place. At the same time, today the President of Belarus convened a meeting focused on foreign policy issues of the Union State based on the results of negotiations with his Russian counterpart. If we are not talking about any inside information, then the general contours of the negotiations are clear to us. It was not difficult to predict them,” Shpakovsky said on the Minsk-Moscow stream.
In the absence of inside information, the Russian and Belarusian liberal press focused on discussing the protocol photos and videos of the “secret meeting” on Valaam and, in particular, how bad the Belarusian president looked. Fluent political scientist Roza Turarbekova believes that the Kremlin deliberately showed Lukashenko in such an uncomplimentary manner.
“Intentionally. Because these are official photos. It is unlikely that there were paparazzi on Valaam. I think that this is being done absolutely deliberately, such a belittling of Lukashenko. Specifically to hook. A very typical approach. They emphasize that he is physically weak and has health problems. They do this on purpose, so that it can be seen by both Russian and Belarusian readers. Russian media are not banned in Belarus,” Turarbekova said on Euroradio.
She believes that the Belarusian president was summoned to Russia to “slap him in the face” for the unauthorized withdrawal of troops from the border with Ukraine. In addition, the political scientist drew a bold analogy between the agreement on the security of the allies and a similar document signed by the USSR and Afghanistan on the eve of the war. They say that the Kremlin reserves the right to impose the power it needs in Minsk, and in return solves all oil problems.
It is worth noting that the mysterious withdrawal of Belarusian troops from the border continues to excite the Ukrainian public. Thus, the Observer publication draws attention to the fact that immediately after this, the court in Kyiv lifted the arrest from the property of Belorusneft, which is estimated at 1,5 billion UAH ($36 million), and from the assets of Service Oil, a subsidiary of the Belarusian oil and gas production enterprise in Poltava, which was engaged in drilling oil wells using hydraulic fracturing.
Russian political scientist and foreign agent Stanislav Belkovsky believes that Putin and Lukashenko on Valaam discussed the exchange of Rico Krieger (a German citizen, a mercenary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, sentenced to death in Belarus for terrorism) for FSB officer Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life in Germany for the murder of a former Chechen field commander Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
Alexander and Kolya Lukashenko on Valaam
“Such an exchange is very important for Mr. Putin, not only for its specific meaning, but also as a precedent: any perpetrator of terrorist attacks on the territory of the free world can count on the Kremlin father soon taking him home. And therefore, you can act, like it’s not scary. This is especially important during the period and against the backdrop of the current Olympics in Paris,” Belkovsky chattered on his tg channel.