Samovar and lard instead of integration

Negotiations of Putin and Lukashenko in Sochi did not lead to anything

On Saturday, December 7, during the meeting of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, nothing new and unpredictable happened. The negotiations lasted five hours and did not end in nothing. However, the only surprise is the absence of even ordinary statements for such meetings after negotiations with oaths in friendship and promises of eternal allies. After five -hour negotiations, Alexander Lukashenko sat on the plane and flew to Minsk. No exits to the press, no handshakes and kisses in the diaphragm.

During the protocol shooting before the negotiations, Alexander Lukashenko was much more talkative and even swording: “A lot has been done in these 20 years. This is known. A lot is to be done. We do not hide it. You noticed that our governments have seriously analyzed the contract, looked what can be done, what we cannot do today so as not to do extra work. And we turned to this issue more than once and corrected the actions of our groups to analyze and develop some plans for further integration. ”

He said a lot - and nothing intelligible.

Then, however, he clearly formulated the agenda. He stated that the only request with which he arrived was equal conditions for business entities in Belarus and Russia: “We do not ask for anything, we do not insist on anything. We agreed for a long time, developing our contract: people and business entities should have equal conditions for life and work. Equal conditions - nothing else is needed. We do not ask, as some say cheap gas, cheap oil. We are ready to buy gas for $ 200, and buy oil not for $ 63 per barrel. The main thing is that the conditions are equal. If our enterprises buy for 200, then competing enterprises should have the same price. Otherwise, we simply will not set the basis of our relationship. You as a scientist, a candidate of economic sciences understand this is no worse than me. Here is the only problem that our governments are working on in principle. We gathered in order to solve these issues. ”

But the issues were not resolved. Five hours of negotiations did not bring anything except the exchange of gifts. Vladimir Putin gave Alexander Lukashenko a samovar, and Lukashenko Putin - a grocery set with sweets, cheese and lard. And they parted, hardly pleased with each other, judging by official silence. We agreed, however, to meet on December 20 in St. Petersburg. But this is not a new meeting for continuing negotiations, but long -planned as part of the EAEU summit.

The only official person who commented on the results of the negotiations was the head of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Oreshkin: “Today was a stressful day. In fact, they worked very fruitfully in a number of directions. On agriculture, communications, customs, the regulation of the oil market. They achieved very serious progress, even on the issue of oil and gas the positions were very serious. ”

Probably, proximity reached such an extent that even a joint access to the press with a statement after negotiations was superfluous.

"We are so close that there are no words."

On December 8, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko sent congratulations to each other on the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Union Agreement. And in Minsk a new action for the independence of Belarus began. Sunday is a great day for walking around the city. About two thousand demonstrators gathered on Oktyabrskaya Square with flags and posters and went first to Victory Square, and then - to the Russian embassy, ​​chanting the "glory of the nation, there is no integration!" And "Live Belarus!". One of the organizers of the action, Pavel Severinets, called December 8 "a positive day of protest." Because for Lukashenko and Putin on December 8, this is the day of signing the Union Agreement. And for people this is the day of signing Belovezhsky agreements, which finally destroyed the Soviet Union and gave us all independence.

Minsk