BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/01/2007

Belarus blasts Moscow

MINSK: Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Moscow on Sunday of trying to incorporate his country into Russia, in some of his sharpest comments yet against one-time ally and energy partner Moscow. Speaking after a bitter oil transit row between the two neighbours, the Belarussian leader referred to a long-standing plan to form a joint state and said Moscow was betraying the spirit of the plan.

He also blasted a pet Kremlin project, a plan by Gazprom to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea to Germany, which he said was the "most stupid" plan in Russian history.

"The Russian leadership is demanding that we join the Russian Federation-that's what is in the heads of the Russian leadership. I don't want to bury the sovereignty and independence of the country," Lukashenko said.

"From all the consultations and discussions, I have understood that we have different approaches and understandings of the building of a union state. A union should be created on principles of equal rights," Lukashenko said as he cast his vote in district elections. He again accused Moscow of being the guilty party in the oil transit dispute that prompted a shut-down of the main oil pipeline from Russia to the EU last Monday, before a resolution was found on Wednesday.

"If Russia is going to reach for the valve every year, is going to switch off the gas and oil supplies to its ally, we can't talk about a union state," he said, adding that counter-measures could be taken. "If pressure by Russia continues, Belarus will introduce payment for the land used by the oil pipeline.... Such a step wouldn't contradict international law," he said.

The comments underlined the increasingly fraught relationship between ex-Soviet Belarus and its giant neighbour, despite Lukashenko's previous record of loyalty to Moscow. The Belarussian leader, who has ruled with an iron fist since 1994, has recently indicated that he is rethinking foreign policy and has made overtures to southern neighbour Ukraine.

Source:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=38959