Putin Travels to Merge Lukashenko with Russia :: Charter'97 :: News

On Monday Minsk will host negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko. The main official event is the session of the Supreme state council of the union states, accompanied by a private conversation between the two incumbents. All disputed issues are presented in the most delicate form – nobody feels like breaking the truce, proclaimed between the heads of the two countries after a loud scandal. However, none of the problems will really come closer to a solution.

They are again waiting for Alexander Lukashenko to answer which of the unification variants is fine with him. The majority of the Belarusian experts, the ruling elite and opposition are ready to fight for the sovereignty of Belarus and will hardly yield to the integration variant, which implies Belarus’ accession to Russia.

- This is not going to happen, no matter how many constitutional acts are signed by the presidents, - “Izvestia” were told by the chairman of the Belarusian union of entrepreneurs Alexander Potupa: There’s no union state as such, nor there will be. They haven’t yet defined the model, which suits both countries. The customs union also doesn’t exist.

What they can do at best is to create an illusion that the constitutional act’s preparation process hasn’t yet come to a dead end.

All have been preparing for Putin’s coming to Minsk. He received numerous missives, calling on him to influence the Belarusian authorities in the solution of many different issues, beginning with the location of the missing opposition politicians and ending with the limitation of Russian media broadcasting in Belarus as an alternative information source. But there are also different moods in the society – on Sunday, a few hours before Vladimir Putin’s coming to Minsk, opposition protesters tore Russian flag and money, demanding that Putin apologize for proposing a humiliating integration variant for Belarus.

The supposed introduction of Russian ruble as the only means of payment is a special theme for today’s talks. The officials have particularly pointed out that they would concentrate on economic problems in Minsk.

The agenda of the Supreme state council also mentions the military technical cooperation. The main aspect of it is the formation of the unique air defense system. Belarusian military experts assume that it can already be achieved this year. Technically there are no problems with that – Russian and Belarusian systems alike have been functioning within the common radiolocation field. The only hindrance is the political integration uncertainty, which slows down the process.