Outcome Sochi meeting: Give us money

Russia and Belarus chose different approaches to cover the meeting of Dmitry Medvedev and Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Sochi.

The press service of the Kremlin reported about the meeting in one sentence: “The presidents discussed various matters of bilateral relations, interaction within the Customs Union, and exchanged views on key international issues,” AFN news agency reports.

Lukashenka's press service, in turn, issued a half-page triumphant propaganda press release, the fact that was expected. Lukashenka's ambush in Sochi with the aim to prove that the two countries are still friends and Lukashenka still have access Russian leadership, finally brought results.

Belarus managed to say that the countries have common views, though in real fact the relations between the countries remain strained after the recent cooldown.

Lukashenka's press service does not say how Medvedev reacted to the request, after Belarus had rejected a $2-million loan from Sberbank last week, but tries to persuade the public that Medvedev took the message.

“The position of the Belarus President was strongly advocated by his Russian counterpart,” the press release says.

The money will be received in September, at least a part for construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant, Lukashenka's administration assures.

“The construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus was also high on the agenda of the summit. The relevant instructions were given to Director General of Russia’s Rosatom state corporation Sergei Kiriyenko to secure the signing of all necessary agreements on NPP construction and allocation of credit resources in September this year using the scheme and terms agreed upon in the construction of the nuclear power plant in Kaliningrad Oblast,” the press service reports not specifying that money will be transferred to accounts of Russian contractors, not the National Bank of Belarus. But it is just a small detail that does not deserve attention.

Lukashenka and Medvedev agreed on holding the Supreme State Council of the union state in November 2011. the heads of the presidential administrations were ordered to work on this issue,” the Belarusian party reports.

November was chosen as the last possible month to hold the event, because Russian presidential campaign starts in December. The Belarusian authorities have only two months to make decisions that would give Lukashenka another opportunity to cadge a portion of support from Medvedev. It means that it's time to determine the fate of Beltransgaz, Belaruskali and a number of other entities, sign agreements on gas and oil supplies for 2012 and maybe some years in future on market conditions set by Russia. As for political sphere, the only way out is to establish warmer relations with the Weest and the US, carry out another thaw, and assure Russia that Belarusian geopolitical players will make troubles during the Russian presidential campaign through Zyuganov and other personalities fed by Belarusian tax payers.