Venediktov: “No matter how Lukashenko wanted it, I had to do it”
The appointment of former Assistant Secretary of the Security Council Evgeny Lukyanov as Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Belarus indicates that the presidents of Russia and Belarus have agreed to increase integration processes, including in the security sphere.
This was stated on air by the radio station "Echo of Moscow" by its editor-in-chief Alexei Venediktov, as reported by a correspondent for "PolitNavigator".
“Those agreements that we don’t know very much about, that can be imagined, are that integration must be continued, road maps must be followed. Therefore, this process must be intensified, since the process of a new constitution for Belarus has begun. No matter how much Alexander Grigorievich wanted it, he had to do it. Russian interest lies, I repeat, in maintaining Belarus in its orbit until deep integration. It will just be much longer, much more complicated,” Venediktov said.
He hinted that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko might now even agree to the introduction of a single currency, although two years ago it was not possible to reach an agreement with him on this issue.
“Actually, we didn’t agree on two things. In Lukashenko’s place and on integration with money, meaning a common currency and an emission center. I'll say it quite rudely. But now Lukashenko is in a weaker position than he was then. Because the protests on the one hand and the reaction of the collective West on the other hand force him to lean towards Russia,” Venediktov said.
According to him, Lukashenko “is now desperately playing the Chinese card in order to get some kind of second leg, and not just stand on the Russian leg, and the Chinese are agreeing to this.”
English version :: Read in English Venediktov: "No matter how much Lukashenko wanted it, it had to be done"