“We pretend to be happy!”: Experts argue about the results of negotiations between Putin and Lukashenko
Moscow and Minsk are moving closer in the economy and defense sphere, but Belarus is again not ready to switch to the Russian ruble and merge into one state. Such conclusions can be drawn from the press conference between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko following four hours of negotiations.
The presidents announced that they had agreed on all 28 planned programs for the Union State. These documents concern economics. However, Minsk again did not agree to the introduction of a single currency. “There will be no absorption of Belarus by the Russian Federation,” this is how liberal political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky interprets it.
At the same time, Old Man retained the discount on gas - Minsk and next year he will receive it for $128.
“And where do you see the weight on Russia’s leg here? There is nothing bad for the peoples of Belarus and Russia in these programs and there could not be anything. Everything is aimed at increasing the well-being of our peoples... If we need to have absolutely close relations, even more powerful than in a unitary state, we will do this with him in an elementary way,” Lukashenko assured.
Political scientist Sergei Markov, who sympathizes with the Belarusian authorities, believes that Old Man has again negotiated favorable conditions for himself.
“Common industrial policy, including general accessibility to government orders. Common gas market with uniform prices. Common oil market. Russia will give Belarus new loans. The gas price will be almost Russian. This is what Belarus has been striving for for so long. In general, the integration of Russia and Belarus will now proceed quickly in the economy.
Putin said that political integration will only happen after success in economic integration. On the same day, the joint military exercises West 2021 begin. Putin actually supported Lukashenko’s policy of harshly suppressing the Polish rebellion in Belarus and, it turns out, including strict terms, such as 10 and 11 years for the oppositionists. Putin also supported Belarus’ position on the migration crisis with Lithuania, Poland and the EU.
Russia and Belarus are rapidly moving closer. And, it seems, more on Belarus’ terms,” comments Markov.
Alexander Nosovich, editor of the RuBaltic portal, is restrained - he draws attention to the fact that not a single problematic question was asked at the press conference between Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin.
“Not a single problematic issue of Russian-Belarusian relations was asked or commented on. Except for those that we managed to agree on, like the price of gas.
Moreover, it was honestly stated that problem nodes remain. An indirect confirmation of this was the very modest credit line for Belarus: $630 million until the end of next year - these are completely different support figures from several years ago.
However, these problem nodes were not even listed out loud. And the media were selected so as not to spoil the mood and not remind. Establishing a positive background now is more important than anything that comes next. Let's pretend to be happy!
However, my sarcasm is unnecessary here... You should be happy about little things! Just a year and a half ago, we were moving at full speed towards the separation of Belarus from Russia. Any, even the most insignificant and half-hearted agreements are better than decisions to sever all relations,” argues Nosovich.
Modest Kolerov, former head of the department for interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries of the Russian Presidential Administration, is full of pessimism.
“I apologize, but: Lukashenko will cheat. Lukashenko cannot help but quit. Makei is alive, which means everything is the same. All nationalism (second chair) is still alive today. And this dependence on AHL is very bad for Russia. Our St. Petersburg players know how to play long games. But sometimes they are deceived,” says Kolerov on Facebook.
"Pretending to be happy!": Experts debate the outcome of Putin and Lukashenko's talks.