And two more

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Belarus was granted a credit, which Minsk had asked to cover losses caused by the rise in prices for Russian oil and gas. In Tuesday the vice-premier Alexei Kudrin and the Belarus Minister of Finance Nikolai Korbut, summoned to Moscow unexpectedly, signed an agreement on extension of a $1,5 billion state credit for 15 years. Minsk is to receive the money before December 31, 2007. But it wasn’t the end: Kudrin promised to Korbut one more credit in 2008. This time the matter concerns $2 billion. Thus the sum of Russian state credits will amount to $3,5 billion, that is 7% of all expenses of Belarus in 2008. Besides that Kudrin proposed to place a public loan to Belarus on the intra-Russian market. In 2006 the volume of the placement could be up to 10 billion rubles.

The Kommersant business daily asked about the reason of such a generosity. Kudrin responded vaguely, citing “delays in specifying the further steps of the partners.” According to him, teh credits allow ‘aall Belarusian economic subjects that have trade deals with Russia, including deals with Gazprom, to have a good supply of gold and currency reserves, which will ensure the foreign trade turnover between Russia and Belarus.’

Andrei Filatov, the director of the Political researches foundation supposes: ‘Most likely they arranged with Lukashenka about the broad access of Russia in the economy of the country. This is not only a question of participation of Russian companies in the privatization of that Belarusian but the more broad cooperation. And besides that there must be some agreements concerning the security, since Belarus borders on Poland. At last that can be a payment for transition of Russian ruble’.

Kommersant notices in its turn: “If Belarus does not the cheap Russian money, which is highly unlikely, the degree of economic integration between the two countries will unavoidably increase, as will Belarus's ties to Russian financial and stock markets. Where political arguments fail, with money, and a sum that is not all that large for Russia.”

It should be reminded that besides the credit Russia has made one more gift to Belarus. During his visit to Minsk on December 14 Vladimir Putin states that Belarus would receive Russian gas on the same price, although since 2008 Russia will purchase gas from Turkmenistan on a higher price. In the first quarter Belarus will receive Russian gas for $119 per one thousand of cubic meters. The Ministry of Finance of Belarus reckons that in 2008 the escalation of prices for gas won’t exceed 25%, that is $125 per one thousand of cubic meters.

It should be noticed that all this happens against a background of sanctions applied by the USA against Belarus. In November 2007 the US Ministry of Finance used sanctions against the biggest Belarus state-run concern ‘Belneftekhim’. All American companies were prohibited to cooperate with the concern; and all its assets in the USA were frozen. Recently the American ambassador in Minsk stated that the USA could apply new sanctions because the authorities of Belarus didn’t give the population more democratic freedoms.

Such a situation certainly strengthens the position of Russia. It is remarkable that on the threshold of Putin’s visit in Minsk Russian mass media discussed the possibility of subscription of the constitutional act of a union state. But Kremlin refuted the information.

On December 26 in Moscow the council of ministries of the Union State of Russian and Belarus will take place.

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