| Mikhail Fradkov can successfully travel to Minsk Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov's visit to Belarus, which begins today, may turn out to be either sensationally successful or routinely unsuccessful. Which in itself is a small event, since recently it was completely impossible to predict the outcome of Russian-Belarusian intergovernmental negotiations. Today, Mr. Fradkov’s new (although in some places still the same) ambitious team is set to sign several agreements in Minsk that promise to resolve long-standing disputes between the two countries.
First of all, we are talking about an agreement on the price of Russian gas and its transit through Belarus. Sources in the Kremlin and the White House say that it is “very close to signing.” And the deadlines are pushing forward - Russian commercial gas supplies to Belarus end on June 12. The same sources claim that the Belarusians insisted in every possible way to make a gas agreement similar to the Ukrainian one. The figures are named accordingly: Belarus will pay $55 for 1 thousand cubic meters of gas, and Russia will pay $1.09 for transporting 1 thousand cubic meters of gas per 100 kilometers. The Russian side continues to insist on a package agreement on gas issues. In other words, negotiations on the purchase of half of the Beltransgaz company continue. An independent company, Deloitte & Touche, has already been selected, which will conduct an audit of Beltransgaz by the fall, and the cost of the pipe will be separated from the cost of the company.
During the current visit of the Russian Prime Minister, there is a very great chance to resolve the scandalous situation that has developed around Transnefteproduct. The Russian delegation has prepared three agreements in this regard. Two of them are devoted to the settlement of property issues (more precisely, Transnefteproduct, in accordance with the Bishkek agreements, remains the property of Russia), the third concerns the interaction between Russia and Belarus in the operation of Transnefteproduct. As the Russian delegation told a Vremya Novostei newspaper correspondent, Belarusians are, in principle, ready to sign these documents. Although it is known that anything can happen in Minsk - even with agreed documents.
Having discussed all these important problems with the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and then at a separate meeting with his Belarusian colleague Sergei Sidorsky, the rest of the time Mr. Fradkov will devote to a meeting of the Council of Ministers of the union state. It will also discuss rather difficult problems - indirect taxes and the single ruble. The last topic, apparently, can be written down as unpromising. It is obvious that the previous scheme for introducing a single currency on the territory of our states has been completely destroyed. And to agree on a new one, a new lengthy negotiation process is needed, which is unlikely to bring results in the coming years. Vera KUZNETSOVA |
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