Russian Ambassador to Belarus Evgeni Lukyanov recently said that 27 out of 28 integration programs had actually been completed, Russian media report.
According to the diplomat, Russia and Belarus have not yet agreed on a road map of energy integration. “[The road map] remains uncoordinated, like a half-finished product, as far as energy carriers are concerned. Mutual settlements, prices, excise taxes,” TASS quoted the ambassador as saying.
Meanwhile, the tax policy road map has been “on the whole approved.”
Yevgeni Lukyanov says that integrating the two countries does not provide for the absorption of one country’s economy by the other. The diplomat added that the most important thing in the integration process and development of the Union State is to move evolutionarily, rather than make some revolutionary steps,” RIA Novosti report.
Lukyanov also promised that Russia would not leave Belarus in case of new sanctions imposed by the EU.
During the press conference, the ambassador said that Russia has no plans to lift restrictions on the free crossing of the Belarusian-Russian land border, which were introduced last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
