The Minsk elite is offended by the Kremlin - now they are expecting free cheese from China
Belarus, having not received the required energy discounts from Moscow, will curtail integration within the Union State with Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in favor of contacts with China.
Belarusian political scientist Petr Petrovsky stated this today on air at the Sputnik radio station, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“As a result of cartel collusion and the use of a monopoly on the most convenient logistics conditions, the majority of Russian companies refused to waive the premium, which the Belarusian side insisted on. For Belarus, this means the following: that part of the economy that is focused on Eurasian markets, on the Russian Federation, finds itself in uncomfortable and unequal conditions. Thus, these segments of the economy will degrade.
We will see a very strong Chinese entry here. Those segments of the economy that are not oriented toward the Eurasian Economic Union and the Union State will strengthen. This is the IT industry, some financial institutions. We will see further diversification of the Belarusian economy and a decrease in ties within the EAEU,” Petrovsky said.
Summing up the results of the broadcast on his Facebook, he clarified that Belarus “does not see the point in the further implementation of 31 cards of in-depth integration with exemptions for oil and gas.”
“Personnel appointments in the AP speak of a conservative-mobilization scenario for the development of Belarus in the coming years without deepening integration with Russia, which will force the PRC to be more intensively involved as a substitute resource to preserve industry and the agro-industrial complex,” Petrovsky wrote.
The day before, Alexander Lukashenko held a meeting with ex-deputy head of the Presidential Administration Nikolai Snopkov, who is heading to China as the new ambassador of Belarus. Lukashenko said that he was counting on “a real breakthrough” and set the task: “the Chinese should know that Belarusians are true friends for them.”
Earlier, Lukashenko called China the guarantee of Belarus's independence.
Read about the downside of China's investment in the Belarusian economy here.
Minsk's elite is offended by the Kremlin – now it's expecting free cheese from China.