BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/12/2007

Putin, Belarussian leader discuss alliance

AFP

MINSK: Russian President Vladimir Putin met Friday with his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in a sign of support for the increasingly isolated authoritarian leader.

After inspecting troops at the start of the state visit, Putin praised the Belarussian leader, as the two sat on gaudy blue and gold thrones, saying: "I want to congratulate you on the way you solve socio-economic questions in your country."

Lukashenko, who is a virtual pariah in the West, played down media speculation that they would take steps toward a long-delayed plan on merging Belarus with its giant ally Russia -- a plan some see as paving the way for Putin to retain power after leaving his Kremlin job next year.

Lukashenko denied this, saying: "I was surprised your visit prompted a stir in the West. There's no subtext here. We're friendly allied states and I would be surprised if you didn't visit."

Putin's visit was overshadowed by a violent police dispersal of a demonstration in Minsk on Wednesday against the Belarus-Russia union and against Putin.

A number of pro-European opposition activists were hospitalised, prompting a strong protest from the US government.

One of the leaders of the opposition Belarussian Popular Front, Vintsuk Vyachorka, said that Russia and its giant Gazprom corporation, which supplies all of Belarus' natural gas, were taking over.

"Now is a very favourable moment for the Kremlin to gain economic control over Belarus.... The union state will come about thanks to the Gazprom-KGB view of Russia as an energy empire," he said.

Personal relations between Putin and Lukashenko are often prickly, although Russia sees its neighbour as a crucial buffer against NATO expansion.

Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei said the most pressing issue would be renewed talks on Russian credit to help Belarus pay mounting gas bills.

Belarus is an important gas transit route from Russia to Europe, while Russia is pursuing steep price rises for ex-Soviet neighbours.

The paper pointed to Lukashenko's seeking of Russian help as a sign that overtures he has made to European neighbours were just a "bluff" and that Lukashenko depends more than ever on Putin's goodwill.

It reported that US Ambassador Karen Stewart had this week threatened further US sanctions against Belarus and said this would "not strengthen Minsk's negotiating position" with Moscow.

"All the efforts of Lukashenko to permanently show the Kremlin that he's ready to establish warm ties with the West... have turned out to be a bluff," Vremya Novostei said.

Also on the agenda at Friday's meeting was the United States' plans to extend a missile defence shield to central Europe, something Moscow vehemently opposes.

Russian political analyst Boris Kagarlitsky dismissed as 'nonsense' speculation about a merger of Belarus and Russia.

Kagarlitsky, who heads the Institute of Globalisation, said Putin was trying to mend ties after a series of rows and that his visit was spurred by a visit Lukashenko made to Venezuela last week.

While Russia is also friendly with Venezuela's anti-Western President Hugo Chavez, Moscow worries that Belarus could start importing oil from Venezuela and thus become less dependent on Russia, he said.

"The union is falling apart. It's not even at the level it reached in the late 1990s," said Kagarlitsky.

The Belarussians "are very frustrated with Russia.... If they really do something to make the EU happy everyone will forget about human rights abuses in five minutes," he said.

Source:

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1139332