BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/04/2009

Lukashenko sees Belarus as bridge between East and West

MINSK, April 23 (Reuters) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, long shunned by the West as a dictator and eager for closer ties with Russia, said on Thursday his ex-Soviet state should become a bridge between East and West.

Lukashenko has been handed an invitation for his country to attend an EU summit with ex-Soviet republics in Prague in May, ending years of diplomatic isolation for Belarus.

The veteran Belarussian leader, who has battled with Russia over gas prices in the past two years, said in his state of the nation address that the invitation offered a balance.

"It so happened that we have veered towards the East, we had no choice," said Lukashenko, whose country is in a loose union with Russia and who was the only member of the Belarussian parliament to oppose the 1991 treaty ending the Soviet Union. "It seems to me the West heard us at last and dialogue has started. It is just beginning." The Eastern Partnership, an EU project allowing integration with post-Soviet states without granting them full membership, gave Belarus a chance to improve ties with the West.

Russia formally welcomed the invitation to Belarus, but in private, Russian officials have said they feared a drift away from Moscow would be a condition for winning seats in the Eastern Partnership. Russia has been alarmed by Lukashenko's staunch resistance to follow Moscow's lead and recognise Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.

The West has denounced Russia's brief war in Georgia last year and its recognition of the two regions. Lukashenko has denied media rumours that withholding recognition was a condition for joining the Eastern Partnership.

However, Russia has put on hold a 100 billion rouble credit, requested by Lukashenko to help fight the economic crisis.

In his address, Lukashenko moved to ease Russian fears.

"We will not follow those who persuade us there is a dilemma between being with the East or the West," he said. "Our task is to become a bridge between the East and the West."

"How can we stop cooperating with Russia today, give up Russia, as some Western hotheads demand?" Lukashenko said. "Historically we were one country."

Lukashenko has not said yet whether he will attend the Prague summit. Commenting on Czech President Vaclav Klaus' threat to refuse to shake hands with him, the Belarus leader showed why he may be a tough partner for Europe.

"The question is whether I want him to shake my hand," Lukashenko said.

Source:

http://www.kyivpost.com/world/40127

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