BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/10/2007

Russia Still Belarus Foreign Priority

Reuters

Russia remains Belarus foreign policy priority despite a quarrel over energy prices, President Alexander Lukashenko said.

Russia remains Belarus's foreign policy priority despite a quarrel over energy prices, President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday.

Lukashenko fell out with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin this year over higher prices for energy imports. That prompted the Belarussian leader to say his policy focusing on Moscow had been a mistake and to call for improved relations with Western countries unhappy with his human rights record.

On Friday, the president said those comments had been taken out of context and Russia remained Belarus's close ally.

"Russia is the absolute priority for our foreign policy," Lukashenko told a news conference for local journalists, broadcast on national radio.

"We have always tried to build normal relations with the West. Why does Russia worry about our efforts to create normal relations with the West?"

The United States and European Union barred entry to Lukashenko last year after accusing him of rigging his re-election to a third term. The president is also accused in the West of hounding opponents and controlling the media.

The European Union has responded to Lukashenko's calls for better ties by proposing an assistance programme - subject to Belarus making changes to meet the bloc's human rights criteria.

Lukashenko dismisses any notion Belarus violates fundamental rights.

Although Belarus had suffered "difficult times" with a doubling of gas prices, he said it remained in Russia's interests to revive his goal of a post-Soviet merger given U.S. plans to install a missile defence system in eastern Europe.

"Take the anti-missile deployment. Who can you count on?" he told reporters. "Does Russia's...response not lie in Belarus? Who has a deterrent force to your west, apart from Belarus?"

Source:

http://www.javno.com/en/world/clanak.php?id=89199