Lukashenko will have "his own parade"

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko refused to participate in the Victory Parade in Moscow on May 9, since at that time he will be in Minsk, where he will accept his military parade in honor of the 70th anniversary of the victory over fascism. “On May 9, we will have our own parade as in Moscow,” he said on a republican subbotnik, BelTA reports . Lukashenko explained that only the commander in chief can take a military parade, and it is unacceptable to withdraw a large number of troops to the streets in the absence of the commander in chief.

At the same time, the head of Belarus nevertheless intends to come to the Russian capital on May 7-8 in the delegation in order to “demonstrate unity with the Russian people and others.” “Perhaps we will lay wreaths at the grave of an unknown soldier, as we do. On May 8, there will be events within the framework of the EAEU, CIS, CSTO, so I, of course, cannot but take part in this. I will try on May 8, even at night, return home. I plan so today, ”said Alexander Lukashenko.

In Minsk this year, they decided even to abandon the St. George’s tapes, however, unofficially, Minsk Today reports . The symbol of the holiday of the Great Victory in Belarus chose a tape to the color of the flag of the country and with a flower of the apple tree on it, which means May. The accessory for the holiday is simply called the "flower of the Great Victory" and is already produced in Mogilev. It is possible that the entire employee of the field of trade, services and catering has to wear this tape with flowers without fail.

Currently, Belarus is actively trying to establish relations with the West. This week in Minsk, Alexander Lukashenko met with the Commissioner of the European Union on European neighborhood politics by Johannes Khan. The head of Belarus stated that new directions and interests of cooperation with the EU had appeared. “We did not hide and do not hide that we are extremely interested in cooperating with the West in the field of technology and, above all, civilian technologies. They are very interested in the development of our economic contacts, ”the Words of the Belarusian leader quoted MIR-24.

The Belarusian politician, deputy chairman of the Civil campaign “Speak Pravda” Andrei Dmitriev told Gazeta.ru about the direct connection of Lukashenko’s decision not to remain at the Victory Parade in Moscow with the need to receive a loan: “The main“ product ”, which Lukashenko is now trying to“ sell ”the international community, is his independence and independence from Moscow. After the demarche of European leaders, Lukashenko wants to show who he is closer to become closer to the IMF loan. Of course, his position could have changed, but obviously not for the miserable 110 million dollars that Moscow threw him. Because you can’t run the stopped factories for them. And this is very important in the election year. The format of the relationship is simple: “There is no loan - no visit,” Dmitriev said.

This Sunday it became known about the already held agreement between Belarus and the International Monetary Fund. The parties intend to develop the conditions of a new joint program, about which there have been conversations since the fall of 2014. Then, to start the development of a new program, the IMF had a number of conditions that implied serious economic reforms in Belarus. In March of this year, on the official website of the IMF, a press release was published according to the results of the work of the fund mission. The document states that the economic model of Belarus retains a high degree of vulnerability to economic shocks, and the centralized planning model in the country does not allow steady growth and provokes periodic pressure. “It is necessary to immediately implement a decisive reorientation of economic policy in order to ensure stability and sustainable restoration of the economy,” said David Hofman, head of the mission.

In April, Lukashenko stated that the country will have enough loan in the amount of $ 2 billion for a new, jointly with a fund, program. According to RIA Novosti, the report in the negotiations of the Belarusian delegation with representatives of the IMF in Washington says that the parties have already agreed on the procedure for interaction, in which the conditions for the implementation of the IMF program are planned to work in the near future. It is also reported that during several meetings, the basic measures of structural reform of the economy of Belarus were discussed in order to achieve its balanced development.

By his decision not to attend the Victory Parade on May 9 in Moscow, Alexander Lukashenko replenished the list of countries whose leaders have already abandoned the visit to the Russian capital to the anniversary military parade. In addition to him, US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the head of the European Council Donald Tusk, negatively responded to the invitation from Russia. The leaders of Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Estonia, Israel, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Japan will not come. The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel will also not appear at the solemn celebration of the 70th anniversary of Victory, but he will arrive the next day and take part in the ceremony of laying flowers on the grave of an unknown soldier.

At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko said everything on the same subbotnik that he himself did not support politicians who defiantly refuse to visit the Victory Parade in Moscow. “I do not support those politicians who today ambitiously refuse to come to Moscow, although they promised earlier. Another thing is when you are busy at home. If they have appropriate celebrations at home, we will only welcome it, we will rejoice that with us this Victory Day is celebrated in other countries, ”he said.

At the end of last year, when the economic crisis erupted in Russia, Alexander Lukashenko demanded that his government switch with Russia to payments in the currency. Then this desire of the President of Belarus was caused by the fact that the economy of his country, too, was very staggered from the fall of the ruble to historical minimums. True, then this requirement did not grow into something more significant, but there was still such a message. Exactly as his statement of a wary attitude to the position of the Russian authorities in Belarus.