| Belarus intends to become a bridge between East and West, using its transit advantages. Alexander Lukashenko stated this in an interview with the influential Austrian newspaper Press: “We are obliged to play the role of a bridge, because this is our position. And let’s be honest, it’s economically profitable. Transit is a certain part of our state's income. This is political, it is also some kind of economic influence, some kind of leverage.” The Belarusian president criticized Russia's plans to build a gas pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, bypassing post-Soviet transit countries. He considers it more expedient to create a second line of the Yamal-Europe pipeline through Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko also promised that Minsk will participate in the European Eastern Partnership program to develop relations with post-Soviet countries and at the same time cooperate with Russia within the framework of a union state. Lukashenko is confident that contradictions with Moscow “are an exclusively subjective issue; they are related to the policies and position of the Russian leadership.” As an example, the president cited the milk war that flared up last month, but was quickly resolved: “Step aside and life itself will fix everything... We can solve all the problems within a month, or by the end of this year.” Olga TOMASHEVSKAYA, Minsk
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