Lukashenka to lodge a counterclaim to Moscow ? :: Charter'97 :: News

The head of the Belarusian state promised to pay USD 460 million that had caused the “gas turmoil” back to Gazprom. Lukashenka also warned the Russian side that he would lodge a financial counterclaim.

“We’ll ask Russia to make a settlement for everything we have done to it and thus we’ll find the required USD 2-3 million” added the Belarusian leader, as reported by the Izvestia today.
“Let them take their money back and live in peace .We have to shift to a more realistic relationship with Russia, Lukashenka said. I ordered the government to take USD 460 million out of the reserved funds and pay for the Russian gas”.
He is sure that Russia is striving to annex Belarus and that is the reason for demanding the debt repayment, Reuters inform.”For the first time I dare say: Russia intends to privatize not only separate enterprises, even to capture them free-of-charge. They would like to privatize the whole country’, the Belarusian governor said.