Raman Yakauleuski: Adventures of Baumgertner in Minsk are not over

All news reports about the release of Uralkali's CEO are not correct.

Political observer Raman Yakauleuski spoke to charter97.org about the decision of the Belarusian General Prosecutor's Office to extradite Baumgertner.

“I'd like to note that today's news were preceded by other news. Firstly, it is a statement of the Belarusian prosecutor general after his meeting with Lukashenka. He said he didn't see obstacles to extradite Uralkali's CEO. But we know well how 'independent' our officials are. The prosecutor general is not an exception. If he makes this statement after the meeting with Lukashenka, it means he [Lukashenka] is changing his position on Baumgertner. Secondly, foreign minister Makei recently visited Russia to meet with his counterpart Lavrov and Miasnikovich, involved in the story with Uralkali's CEO, had a meeting with Dmitry Medvedev in St Petersburg. Medvedev is reported to have declined a bilateral meeting, so they met at a session of the CIS heads of government. The question of Baumgertner was raised implicitly or explicitly at the meeting. By the way, Makei didn't deny it. The cold tone between Medvedev and Miasnikovich may mean that Russia expressed its tough position on the matter,” the observer underscored.

Raman Yakauleuski is confident that it might have affected today's news.

“In my opinion, the thing that had the greatest impact on today's news was not the meeting of Makei in Moscow or the meeting of Miasnikovich in St Petersburg. It was the news that Prokhorov is the most likely successor of Kerimov, though Lukashenka would prefer Gutseriyev. It shows that his desire is not a law for the Kremlin. Putin agrees to see Prokhorov in Uralkali, because, as some observers suppose, he will be able to tie Prokhorov to himself and make Uralkali an instrument to control him,” the political observer noted.

Raman Yakauleuski says all news reports about the release of Baumgertner are not correct.

“It can follow from a comment by Putin's aide Ushakov, who said they hoped the extradition to take place by the end of November. By the way, he refused to give a direct answer to the question if the release of Baumgertner had any relation to Prokhorov. The refusal to answer shows that the name of Prokhorov gave impetus to settling the problem. We don't know the price of the release for Belarus and Russia. But it seems the adventures of Baumgertner in Minsk are not over,” the international observer summed up.