Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka is to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 22 in Sochi.
The previous meeting of the two leaders took place on July 15 – Lukashenka arrived in Moscow and attended the final of the World Cup.
However, two days later, the Belarusian president claimed Russian companies were involved in the transit of sanctioned food products through Belarus. According to him, it is the Russian, not Belarusian, side that patronizes the banned imports.
“All the negative processes relating to the banned imports and other matters are handled by Russian companies, sometimes major ones, with big entrepreneurs in senior positions behind them,” he said.
In August, Reuters reported that Russia intended to cut supplies of duty free oil and gas. According to the agency, Moscow was about to block paying the last tranche of the Eurasian Stabilization and Development Fund loan and suspend transferring $1 bn of the Russian loan to Minsk. Moreover, they were also going to freeze duty payments for Russian crude oil to the Belarusian budget. In 2019, Russia may not offer an expected new loan to Belarus, Reuters said with reference to its own sources close to the Kremlin.
- Lukashenka goes berserk after reports about Russia’s getting tough on Belarus?
- Lukashenka blames Russian firms, officials for patronising banned imports
- Minsk wants 1 bln Russian loan. Expert explains why Moscow will not refuse
Apparently, the hot-spot issues mentioned above will be raised and discussed at today’s meeting.
