Putin Creates Problems for Lukashenka with One Year Delay :: Charter'97 :: News

Before 2006 Russia didn’t raise gas price for Belarus not wanting to cause political problems in that country in the run-up to the presidential elections there, Vladimir Putin stated at a press-conference in the Kremlin. “Let me be frank, we didn’t want to cause damage to the imminent president of Belarus last year in connection with future political events, first of all elections. We didn’t want to create any problems to the regime,” V. Putin said.

“Moreover, I told that personally once,” Russian president said, Interfax reports.

As said by him, “three years ago we already informed our Belarusian counterparts about our transiting to market relations with Belarus, and in the beginning of the last year, in March, our proposals were sent in a written form, and by the way, there were no objections at that moment”.

“We couldn’t start military operations at all directions at once!”

Putin noted that last year “we really had problems with Ukrainian partners, which were settled satisfactorily for both sides, despite of all difficulties”. “Both the Russian and the Ukrainian sides admitted that it was an optimal way out from the situation which had been forming for the last 15 years,” the president noted.

“15 years! Russia has not just granted independence to those republics, but for 15 years it was subsidising economies of those countries at a large scale, promoted their independence and sovereignty reinforcement. But 15 years is enough and it cannot last forever,” V. Putin said.

As said by him, “we have our own problems, our own pensioners, our military men, doctors, teachers and so on, and a huge number of people live below the poverty line still”.

Russian president noted that Russia is carrying out a transition to market relations with the USSR in the sphere of energy resources “in a mild mode, evenly”.

“But we couldn’t do that at the same time both in Ukraine and in Belarus, we couldn’t start military operations at all directions at once!” V. Putin underlined.

V. Putin also paid attention to the fact that after transition to market prices in trade with Ukraine the relations between Moscow and Kyiv didn’t deteriorated. They have become better, stronger and more reliable for Russia and for Ukraine, Russian president said.

He declared that “we are always ready to come to the aid of the Ukrainian people, Ukrainian government and the president, when we asked about that, and in this case in the area of power economy,” V. Putin said.

However, the most important thing is to his mind that “we have agreed upon market nature of our relations for today and for the future”.

Having recalled a request of one his European colleagues that Russia shouldn’t change its policy on energy resources towards Ukraine, when “Yanukovich would gain power”, V. Putin mentioned his answer to his interlocutor at the press-conference: “We haven’t planned that. Our decision was not political, but an economic one”.

Russia is not going to reject the «union» with Belarus

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin declared that Russia was not going to refuse the creation of the “union state” with Belarus. “We, together with Belarus, are going to continue the construction of the “union state”, said Putin at his conference in the Kremlin.

He emphasized that Russia was glad to welcome the changes ”made by the Belarusian authorities in terms of adjusting the tariffs for oil and oil products ”.”It is the real step forward to creation a full-value custom’s union”, Putin declared, as Interfax. reports.

He also mentioned that despite certain complicated issues with Belarus this year both countries, nevertheless, signed the agreement on transit and on changing the prices for power supplies.

“It is not important yet, how much they are paying today-it is important that we have fixed all the stages of transition to the market in the documents, it has been done softly within a four- years period, on absolutely friendly terms”, Putin remarked.

As it was stressed by the Russian president, “ of course it might have been desirable to leave everything as it was but that is impossible as we are separate states.”

“We also suppose that not everything has been lost with introduction of the common currency. I am sure that our Belarusian partners are able to analyze the realities and to realize the reliability of the Russian economy and Russian national currency”, the Russian president pointed out.

He also assumed that Russia and Belarus “might have decide on the common currency which might be neither Russian nor Belarusian ruble,” ” or as we previously planned, to start with the Russian ruble. Such things are possible”, president of the Russian Federation said.