Andrei Suzdaltsev: Russian authorities won't try Baumgertner

Moscow understood after Lukashenka's press conference that leaving Uralkali CEO in Belarus was dangerous.

Politologist Andrei Suzdaltsev spoke to charter97.org about initiating criminal proceedings against Vladislav Baumgertner by the Russian Investigative Committee.

“The Russian authorities did it because Lukashenka delivered an ultimatum during a press conference on October 11. It became clear that leaving Uralkali top manager in the hands of the Belarusian authorities was dangerous. He must be saved. The situation is absolutely inadequate. Any experts could understand from Lukashenka's speech that he is not able to control himself and is ready for everything,” the politologist thinks.

The expert is confident that it doesn't mean Russia has begun to trade or demonstrated a weakness.

“If the Belarusian side says it will extradite Uralkali CEO in this variant, he must be taken out of the country. It's a different matter how it should be done and interpreted. We need to remember that Uralkali is a transparent company. Lukashenka said many times that it was a bankrupt, but it was audited by respectable international firms and its shares are listed on the market. I don't think there will be a trial in Moscow and Uralkali top manager faces a jail term. If there were real criminal problems, the Russian authorities would have opened a criminal case long ago,” Andrei Suzdaltsev thinks.

We remind that the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner.