BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/01/2007

Lukashenko accuses Russia of attacking his country

MINSK/MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - The president of Belarus told Russia's Communist leader on Tuesday that Moscow is not seeking a rapprochement with his country, but is carrying out a large-scale offensive.

"With the current Russian leadership, a massive attack on Belarus has been underway for several years," Alexander Lukashenko told Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of Russia's Communist Party, at talks in Minsk.

"The truth is that we cannot keep enthusiastically running to Moscow, as Moscow and the Russian leadership do not want this," he said.

Earlier this month the former Soviet allies became caught up in a bitter oil and gas dispute, which caused a three-day disruption in oil supplies to some European consumers.

"When we ask the question: how would Russia behave if here [in Belarus] there were American and German investors? Of course, Russia would not behave in that way. Russia trembles on its hind legs before Americans and others," Lukashenko said.

The president said he does not believe Russia is switching to market relations with former Soviet states, and pointed out that Russia supplies millions of tons of oil to Kazakhstan each year, duty-free.

The president said that when Russia has gone through difficult times in the past, Belarus gave its unconditional support, which appears to have been a mistake.

He also dismissed as "ridiculous" Russia's claims that it is subsidizing the Belarusian economy.

Lukashenko also told Zyuganov that Russia is trying to blackmail Belarus by introducing duties on Belarusian TV sets and fridges.

"Things have slipped so far that just before New Year tons of Belarusian sweets were seized in transit," he said.

However, a source in Russia's Commerce and Industry Chamber, close to bilateral developments, said: "Alexander [Lukashenko] has spoken three times about Russia imposing customs duties on Belarusian exports such as combines, cars, fridges, TV sets etc. But I have never heard anyone from Russia's leadership talking of any duties on Belarusian merchandise."

Russia has traditionally been the closest ally of Belarus, whose leadership has become increasingly isolated in the West over clampdowns on civil and political freedoms. Belarus's authoritarian ruler Lukashenko and many other top officials have been banned from entering the United States and the European Union, and the EU has frozen Belarusian government assets.

The ex-Soviet neighbors declared an intention to build a Union State with a common economic, customs and political space in 1997. But negotiations have been complicated by a host of issues, including the energy-pricing row.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/world/20070130/59935133.html

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