Translated material
There was good will
Russia will improve the welfare of Belarusian citizens
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko received long-awaited support from Russia on the eve of the 2011 presidential elections. Moscow promised to maintain benefits for energy supplies to Belarus. This will support the Belarusian economy during the crisis and will help the government improve the welfare of citizens on the eve of the election campaign.Agreements on preferential terms for energy supplies were reached as a result of lengthy negotiations between Alexander Lukashenko and Dmitry Medvedev, which took place in Moscow last Thursday. Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko said based on their results that in the first half of 2010, Russian oil will be supplied to Belarus duty-free and on a priority basis. Under these conditions, Russia will provide its ally with 8-9 million tons of oil out of the 21.5 million tons planned for the year. For Minsk, this option is more profitable than the current scheme, when oil supplied to Belarus is subject to a preferential duty. The parties will decide how further supplies will be carried out by July 2010.
Minsk also managed to achieve an extension of benefits for the purchase of Russian gas. Previously, it was assumed that Belarus would buy it at the average European price from 2011. But now the timing of the transition to market supply conditions is being pushed back to 2014 or even 2015. “There was good will on the part of the President and Prime Minister of Russia,” explained Mr. Semashko.
“This was the answer to the question of who Russia will bet on in the elections. And before it was clear that Moscow would not support an alternative candidate to Lukashenko, preferring not to quarrel with the politician who really controls the situation in Belarus. But now it has become clear that the Russian leadership will not maintain neutrality,” political scientist and former parliament member Olga Abramova told Vremya Novostey.
In exchange for providing significant support, Moscow expects reciprocal steps from Minsk. One of them could be privatization in favor of Russian business. The first major transaction practically coincided with the meeting of the presidents - last week the Russian Sberbank acquired 93.27% of the shares of Belpromstroybank, one of the five largest banks in Belarus, for $281 million. The head of Sberbank, German Gref, promised to increase the capital of Belpromstroybank by $300-350 million and open a credit line of $2 billion to Belarus.
Minsk announced its readiness to soon begin the sale of petrochemical complex enterprises, which Russian companies have been interested in for many years. “In the near future, a deal on the Naftan-Polimir complex may take place, the participation of LUKOIL or other Russian enterprises is possible,” said Vladimir Semashko. Negotiations on the privatization of the complex, consisting of the Naftan oil refinery and the Polymir petrochemical enterprise, began several years ago, but were slowed down due to the crisis. In addition to LUKOIL, the Rosneft company showed interest in acquiring the complex. However, Olga Abramova noted to VN: “Minsk may make certain political concessions, but will not take any serious steps that could jeopardize Belarusian sovereignty.”