29 March 2024, Friday, 17:57
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Boris Kushniruk: In Relations With Ukraine, Belarus Looks To Moscow

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Boris Kushniruk: In Relations With Ukraine, Belarus Looks To Moscow
BORIS KUSHNIRUK
PHOTO: UKRINFORM.COM

The Belarusian authorities are torn between greed and fear of angering the Kremlin.

Famous Ukrainian economist, expert of the Ukrainian think tank Boris Kushniruk said in an interview to Radio Racyja:

– There are a lot of pitfalls in the current relations of the Belarusian and Ukrainian economies. On the one hand, in recent years Belarus has performed as a kind of “mediator” in the relations between economic entities of Russia and Ukraine.

It is not a secret, that, when there were some problems in direct trade, these entities used the transit through Belarus. The same thing is happening now. Russians fly to Kiev via Minsk, and Ukrainians also go to Moscow via the Belarusian capital. Belarus, of course, is satisfied with such a status.

Belarus, as a junior partner of Russia, is often forced to act with regard to the eastern neighbor, making decisions concerning cooperation with Ukrainian partners, and that complicates economic relations between Belarus and Ukraine.

The Belarusian authorities are afraid, that they might be created some additional complexities. In the first place – in the form of an armed occupation by the senior “partner.” This is, of course, the theory, but, after what has happened in Ukraine, everyone understands that this cannot be excluded.

In general, today the Ukrainian market is not as active in Belarus, as we would like it to be. The war has added to the crisis. In short, the economic relations between the two countries are not one-dimensional. We cannot say that everything is good or bad.

– How do you see the future prospects of this cooperation?

– For Belarus, it will develop under the influence of Russia, and Russia is unlikely to give up its hybrid warfare tactics in the near future, which will limit Russian-Ukrainian trade to a large extent. And that means, it will limit the Belarusian-Ukrainian one as well.

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