MINSK, 24 December (BelTA) – It is very important to work calmly in matters of advancing Belarusian-Russian integration in order to scare no one away and give no reasons for quarrels. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant statement in an interview with Editor-in-Chief of the radio station Ekho Moskvy [Echo of Moscow] Aleksei Venediktov on 24 December, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “Life has to force us to take certain steps. Just like it has been done up till now. We've never molded or torpedoed anything. There has been no fake news or hype about it. Up till now. We should calmly come to terms. Most importantly, we should demonstrate it to the peoples of Russia and to the people of Belarus in particular, which has such a reverent attitude to sovereignty and independence (because it has happened for the first time in history). This is why it is important not to scare anyone and avoid creating a fertile ground for all kinds of provocateurs, for brawls and street fights for independence and sovereignty. It is necessary to calmly work on it instead of making all kinds of provocative statements for mass media.”
Speaking about sources of integration with Russia, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the economy would have been destroyed if they had initially decided to sever existing ties. “But I would not have accepted it as a man with earthly origins, as someone with a microeconomics background. Not macroeconomics of Gaidar's and Chubais' ilk but microeconomics,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed he had been the initiator of integration processes but all the post-Soviet unions and integration projects are primarily connected with Russia. “Russia was interested in it. Yeltsin rejoiced and constantly supported me in this regard. Then Putin came up with the Eurasian Economic Community. Russia has always been the initiator of it,” the head of state noted.
“So if someone joins this union, does he or she do that in order to make things worse? No. But at some point in the course of our construction of the Union State of Belarus and Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union everything started spiraling down,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. “It was a steady process. Year after year. And since the time pragmatics and market proponents congregated around Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], they have believed: they can live on their own, they don't need Belarus, let's try to pressure the country, the Belarusian economy is good, let's raise prices for energy resources, and so on.”
The president pointed out that the deficit in Belarus' trade with Russia is $9 billion. A similar situation with the trade deficit is the cause of the China-USA conflict, he noted.
Speaking about the agreements reached as a result of the recent talks, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that there are no specific figures or contracts yet. “They should be. I hope they will be. But then again we see some signals originating from the government [of the Russian Federation],” he added.
