1st day of talks: Putin calls Belarus ‘strategic partner’


It is the third time Alyaksandr Lukashenka has come to Russia for the past two months. But such frequency is hardly indicative of Belarus’ smooth relations with the eastern neighbour.

However, during Wednesday’s talks with Lukashenka, Vladimir Putin called Belarus a ‘strategic partner of Russia and took a favourable view of the development of bilateral relations in all sectors.

But the rhetoric is a bit out of touch with the reality, which is clear from the media response. In Belarus, the talks are making headlines, but you are lucky if this topic is of secondary importance in Russian media reports.

“This working group that was allegedly established in the wake of Lukashenka’s visits to Russia in late December has failed to start working. The agenda and the subject are not clear; they do not know what they should talk about. The creation of the Union State is issue Nr 1 for Russians; only after discussing it will they be talking about the compensation for the tax maneuver. The Belarusian side’s priorities are just the opposite,” Belarusian political analyst Valery Karbalevich believes.

Russia is set to change the format and nature of the bilateral relations. Belarus, however, is not very impressed with the proposals.

“On no account should we become similar to the Russians. They do not understand what they want and what they are doing at the Belarusian-Russian border,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka stressed.

“You want to unify customs and tax policy? I am not against it. But one should keep the best traditions and conditions,” he stressed.

Such statements seem to be mildly rejecting Russians’ proposals on the future development of bilateral relations. So, on the first day of the talks, the Belarusian president limited himself to generalities about the inviolability of the Belarusian-Russian partnership.

“The tactics of the Belarusian side is ‘we are ready to start negotiations’. But Lukashenka says: „Why do you think it should be the Russian ruble?” One more issue is the emission centre that should be created on an equal footing, i.e half from the Belarusian side, half – from Russian. It is obvious that Russia is not satisfied with that,” Karbalevich stressed.

But Russia might come to terms with Belarus in another field – not economic, but political. Over the recent years, pro-Russian activists in Belarus have been promoting the point about the need to create a so-called single humanitarian space, i.e a common approach in education, culture and information policy. Naturally, they expect such space will be pro-Kremlin. If sketchy details about yesterday’s talks are anything to go by, ‘humanitarian issues’ were on the agenda.

“I do not understand how one can exchange something of their own for material values. Today you sell it, tomorrow you will have nothing to sell, and you will have to hire yourself. This is not a proper approach either in today’s politics or in everyday life. We have to think about how to live by our own labour, our wits,” Belarusian MP Alena Anisim believes.

It is not ruled out that these negotiations will end in the same way Lukashenka’s visit to Moscow – with only general statements and without any specific actions. In this case, the Belarusian authorities will continue being up in the air in financial terms. Taking the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in 2019-2020 into consideration, it is not the best scenario for Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

News
Too many controversies: Three days of Putin-Lukashenka talks in Sochi
2019.02.13 12:22

Belsat.eu

TWITTER