The Belarus-Russia integration process should be gradual, all the prior agreements should be reached, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at Friday’s press conference for Russian journalists.
“One should keep our agreements and implement them step by step,” he stressed.
In his opinion, the relations should be based on equal footing and mutual trust. “If there is no fulfilment, there is no union,” he said.
“It is no use blackmailing us, trying to make us toe the line or seizing by the throat. We must pursue the integration for the sake of the unity of our peoples. I cannot resort to plotting behind the scenes, the process should be open and transparent,” Lukashenka said.
Lukashenka stressed that the statements about Russia’s allegedly injecting tens of billions of dollars into the Belarusian economy was nonsense. According to him, there was certain credit support from the Russian side, but at a much higher interest rate than loans from the IMF.
“I often come across the ideas like ‘why have we been maintaining Belarus so long?’ in media reports – even those written by supporters of our union. Some even estimate that we have got about $100 bn since we became independent. When I read such things, I think that if there were $100 bn, the Belarusians would simply choke over such a large number of foreign banknotes received from our brotherly state. It is complete nonsense,” he added.
A day before, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia was ready to further deepen integration with Belarus, which many perceived as a threat to the counry’s sovereignty.
ІІ, belsat.eu
