“Are you ready to make a sovereignty?”: Putin and Lukashenko talked about the unification

Friday joint press conference of the presidents of Russia and Belarus after negotiations on the investment forum in Sochi did not bring news about the deepening integration of countries and about the tax maneuver, but gave Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko a reason for dialogue about independence and sovereignty. Negotiations in Sochi are the seventh meeting of the presidents in six months. Both countries officially refute the frequent rumors about the unification for the sake of preserving Putin at the head of a single state.

Photo: kremlin.ru

Read more. Lukashenko emotionally reacted to the question of journalists about the integration of countries and the threat of the sovereignty of Belarus during integration: “Why do we have to raise questions of the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus?! This is an icon, this is sacred! "

Quote: “Listen, we can unite tomorrow, we have no problems, but are you, Russians and Belarusians, for this? - continued Lukashenko. - Are you ready to give up a sovereignty? I’m not talking about independence, for me the concept of independence is relative. ”

Even Russia is not independent, the president of Belarus noted. Putin agreed that completely independent states in the world do not exist: “Everything, at least large and small countries. The modern world is a world of interdependencies. ”

“We frankly say to each other that we are not eternal. We will once leave, what will we leave our children? This also cannot but worry us as politicians, ”Lukashenko explained. The presidents decided to discuss bilateral problems “starting from below”: “Before taking serious steps in the development of the Union State, we should not only know this, but also absorb our own.”

Context. At the end of December, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov to the question of whether the creation of a single state of Russia and Belarus is considered, replied: “In such a wording, this topic is not on the agenda. She was not discussed. There is no conversation about this. ” In December last year, the Belarusian newspaper "Our Niva" wrote about Lukashenko’s closed meeting with senior officials, at which it was decided to "stand for independence", despite the pressure of Russia, including using a tax maneuver.

The side maneuver in the Russian oil industry, according to Lukashenko, was not discussed.

Quote: “As if this is the most important problem in the relationship of Belarus and Russia. It really exists, but I say exclusively to you sincerely and honestly: we, in my opinion, even this word was not said in these three days, ”said Lukashenko.

Context. The Russian tax maneuver is a big problem in the relations of countries: the Belarusian Ministry of Finance estimated the losses from it at $ 300-400 million in 2019. So far, Russia supplies oil to Belarus without duties at domestic prices, but by 2024 the export fee for oil will gradually decrease to zero and at the same time the domestic -Russian mining tax will increase. Prices for Russian oil for Belarus will increase and decrease the profitability of oil re -export, from which Minsk charges the export fee to its budget.

Sergey Smirnov