Neither Belarusians nor me will tolerate any pressure – Lukashenka to State Secretary of Union State
Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka urged Russia to determine the future of joint integration projects when meeting with State Secretary of the Union State Grigory Rapota on Tuesday.
“We have been hardly making any progress in the talks on gas prices for several months. In this context, Russia reduced the export of oil to Belarus. We perceive it as pressure on Belarus. But I will not tolerate any pressure, and Belarusians will not tolerate it either,” the head of state said.
Lukashenka added that the delivery of certain Belarusian products to Russia, for example, foodstuffs purchased by the European Union, is blocked.
“For some reasons they are treated as “low-quality” products in Russia. But the reason is clear: when we deliver high-quality goods at reasonable prices to Russia we cost Russian agricultural oligarchs a pretty penny. They put pressure on the government (you know perfectly well that they are well-connected), and the government gives instructions to various civil servants in Rosselkhoznadzor and other agencies. They give green light to a number of Belarusian enterprises and ban the products of others. There is undisguised pressure,” he said.
“Why an I openly speaking about it? Because I am sick and tired of it, it must be stopped. I am saying all this because you must understand what the development background of our Union State project is,” the Belarusian leader added.
