‘Independence is sacred’: Belarus rep slams report about confederation with Russia
President Lukashenka’s press secretary Natallya Eysmant has made a comment on the recent report about the new of the economic integration of Belarus and Russia.
On September 16, the Russian media outlet Kommersant presented some details of the project of deepening the integration of Belarus and Russia, which was reportedly agreed by the prime ministers of the two states on September, 6.
If the information is anything to go by, the document provides for the partial economic integration at the same level as the EU member states have; in some fields, the integration will be similar to that of a confederation or even federation. In fact, the question is that Russia’s economy will swallow the economy of Belarus at the level of management, the authors stressed.
The terms ‘confederation’ and ‘federation used in the article are nothing but journalistic cliches, Natallya Eysmant told the Belarusian media outlet Nasha Niva.
“Carrying out the work on integration, the parties base themselves on the current situation, i.e the achieved level of cooperation,” the presidential spokeswoman said.
According to her, the idea of the independence of Belarus and Russia is the bedrock of [any processes].
“This is sacred! The sovereignty and independence of each country are our red lines that are not to be ceossed! In integration processes, we resort to the moves that are economically viable. No single bodies of authority are being established – the countries are not ready for that.”
Russia’s and Belarus’ joint boards, the parliamentary assembly, Council of Ministers of the Union State, the Supreme State Council of the Union State get their act together, Eysmant stressed.
“It is the bodies that, according to the two presidents’ agreements, will address all the issues in bilateral relations. <…>As for the ‘leak’, the program will become the program only when it is signed by the presidents and adopted by the Supreme State Council in December – and again, only if the parties are ready for that,” she added.
