Russian Assets in Belarus Under Threat of Expropriation :: Charter'97 :: News

The Belarusian president, utterly offended by Vladimir Putin’s recent statements on the possible amalgamation principles, set his mind to escalate the conflict. Vladimir Putin pointed “Lukashenko’s Belarus at its real place” and Lukashenko retaliated him back. However, the methods, picked by the Belarusian side, seem but a primitive blackmail.

Confrontation unfolded on the economic field with a time-consuming lawsuit on the legal belonging of oil pipes, running through the territory of Belarus. This wasn’t the first sign of aggravating relations between the former allies.

A significant part of the Belarusian companies still belong to the state, despite Minsk’s periodical declarations on the process of their privatization. Russian business interpreted Alexander Lukashenko’s words on Slav friendship too literally, viewing them as an opportunity to purchase the control stock of shares and invest capitals into the Belarusian economy. Aren’t we having the same country, they thought? But it turned out that the sides were looking at things from different angles.

Russians should have come to this realization long ago. All Russian companies’ attempts at taking over the control over the Belarusian companies bore no result whatsoever. Meantime, the scheme of privatization and defense of interests of the domestic manufacturers had been elaborated by the Belarusian leadership in great detail. First, they promised everything to the investors, who signed contracts in response and even brought their monies. But at the last moment they realized that they got to take extra time.

Clear enough, this can be no encouragement to Vladimir Putin. The Russian president doesn’t feel like sacrificing the interests of his own business and state for the good of the abstract union with a doubtful Lukashenko, whose reputation is in great question. So, one can barely expect that the meeting of two incumbents in Moscow will result in mutual compromise, as far as Lukashenko himself gets down to political blackmail. Official Minsk hints in open that soon they may embark on the expropriation of Russian oil pipelines, the network of which in Belarus is more intense than anywhere else in Russia.