The editor-in-chief of the radio station Echo of Moscow, Alexei Venediktov, said on the air of the program Osoboye Mneniye (Special Opinion) that before his visit to Minsk, Igor Sechin had met with Vladimir Putin. According to Venediktov, this means that Sechin is fulfilling the Kremlin’s instructions.
Alexei Venediktov believes that Rosneft head Igor Sechin voiced Vladimir Putin’s proposal on the oil issue during a meeting with Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Minsk. According to the journalist, the details will be known in a few days.
“We know that the main public issue, the operational issue is the oil supply to the Republic of Belarus. The day before, the head of Rosneft, which last year supplied 50% of all oil to Belarus, met with the President of the Russian Federation, then got on an airplane and flew to Alyaksandr Lukashenka. Obviously, there was an instruction. Well, obviously. He brought him the news that Putin made a decision after the meeting with Lukashenka. He brought him Putin’s decision. And today and tomorrow we will learn what decision Putin made with regard to Belarus and the oil issue,” said Alexei Venediktov.
The chief editor of the radio station also expressed the opinion that the more rude Lukashenka is to Moscow, the more active the Kremlin will be in discussing his replacement.
On February 18, Igor Sechin and Alyaksandr Lukashenka met in Minsk. Apparently, the meeting with Sechin was unplanned and set up at the last minute. On the morning of February 18, the press service of the Belarusian head of state reported that Lukashenka would pay an official visit to Egypt on February 19-20. Telegram channel “Pool of the First,” which is probably associated with the press service of Lukashenka, has posted photos from Egypt — it turns out that the presidential pool of journalists has already arrived in Cairo. Only after that was a report about Lukashenka’s meeting with Sechin in the Independence Palace in Minsk.
“I would like to be completely clear. I think, taking advantage of the fact that we’ve known each other for a long time, you’ll give us a hint and we’ll be able to agree on our further cooperation,” Lukashenka said during the meeting with Sechin.
