Sochi between the Empire

As you know, the main themes of the next meeting of the presidents of Russia and Belarus was the “slip” with the solution of the issue of giving the Russian ruble the status of a single payment of the Union State, as well as a new procedure for paying the supply of Russian natural gas. The issues are difficult, therefore the "general contractors" discussed them for not a single hour. According to eyewitnesses and participants in the events, they were often associated with Moscow. Other details became known only when the heads of the two states went to the press.

In general, the presidents kept competently, which is why the first impression was that the process is difficult, but still did not get out of the control of Moscow and Minsk. True, mutual injections were nevertheless applied, which is why the consent of the parties causes observers of doubt.

So, say, Vladimir Putin said that "the transition to a single currency has nothing to do with the sovereignty of Belarus," and "our economies and our citizens will only benefit from this event." Recall that just a few days ago, Alexander Lukashenko spoke the absolutely opposite: they say, there is no need to rush to part with the Belarusian currency, since it is one of the guarantors of Belarusian sovereignty.

According to Putin, the question of the procedure and terms for the transition of the two states to a single currency should be discussed at a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers and submitted for discussion of the State Council of Russia and Belarus. Recall that all the necessary documents are on August 12, and why it was impossible to discuss them at the highest Russian-Belarusian level before, the media remained a mystery. The reason, apparently, in the Belarusian side mentioned by the Russian president. But it is planned to dispel them (as Alexander Lukashenko admitted, "our country has less experience, and we want to understand everything").

So far, the draft unification agreement has earned only the oral praise of the leaders: as Mr. Putin said, the presidents appreciated the “high quality of documents prepared on this issue by the Ministry of Finance of both countries”, as well as the Bank of Russia and the National Bank of Belarus.

Not easier than with a ruble, it is obtained by two presidents and gas. Again, according to Vladimir Putin, the two leaders came to the conclusion that they still could not figure out who “who should whom and what”, which is why the economic entities of the two countries continue to argue on this subject. True, the shift is also scheduled in this area: the parties recognize that Belarusian and Russia must proceed to market relations in the gas sector (Moscow Minsk - Gas at the European price, Minsk Moscow - transit according to the same standards; as well as "should" have "without five minutes of partners in the Union), as well as continue negotiations to create a single gas transport system. The Russian president also spoke out that Belarusian companies could participate in the development of gas fields in the Russian Federation.

Alexander Lukashenko, in turn, was not original: once again, having reproached the Russian press for driving wedges into the process of union construction, he admitted that Minsk never spoke and would not oppose the unity of the peoples of Russia and Belarus. At the same time, "negotiations on the Union State are not easy, since the parties may have approached the decisive moments." If you cannot move forward, then it is necessary, at least so that "we do not go down lower than we are now."

When the Belarusian president said "we", he apparently did not mean the peoples of the two countries and not participating in the negotiation process of officials, but himself and Vladimir Putin. This is logical: after all, according to the results of the Sochi meeting, many observers have the impression that only these two people can understand the complex mechanism of unification and extinguish the interdepartmental conflicts arising at the same time (not to mention the conflicts of “business entities”).

Consequently, the Sochi between the landscape can be considered successful.