Belarus feeling Putin pressure Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the leader of Belarus yesterday for another round of difficult talks on closer integration, amid Moscow’s mounting economic pressure on its exSoviet ally.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has accused the Kremlin of flouting Russian commitments for energy supplies while trying to strongarm him into a closer alliance. Some fear that the Russian leader could be eyeing a full merger of the two nations in order to extend his rule after his current presidential term expires in 2024.
The Kremlin has argued that Belarus, which relies on Russia for most of its energy needs, should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving Russian resources at subsidised prices.
Putin’s deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak said the leaders had agreed that talks on integration would continue.
Putin and Lukashenko met twice in December, but failed to resolve their differences.
Transit shipments of Russian crude oil to Europe via Belarus have continued unimpeded, but
Belarusian oil refineries have been reduced to a minimum capacity, depriving the country of a major source of income. In the past, Belarus cashed in on exports of petroleum products made from cheap Russian oil.
Belarusian officials said the country lost $330 million last year because of higher Russian oil prices.
Lukashenko is looking for alternative supply sources, and last month Belarus purchased a shipment of crude from Norway. However, its Soviet-style economy depends on cheap Russian energy and can’t afford oil imports at world prices.
Earlier this week Lukashenko boasted about warming ties with the United States, in an apparent bid to win concessions from Russia, after a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vexed Moscow.
Pompeo, the first US secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years, said the US could provide Belarus with 100 per cent of its oil and gas needs, and wanted to help it uphold its sovereignty.
Russia and Belarus signed a union agreement in 1997 that envisaged close political, economic and military ties, but stopped short of forming a single nation.