Meeting to discuss cooperation with Russia

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted a meeting at the Palace of Independence on 1 June to discuss cooperation with Russia.

At the very beginning of the meeting, the head of state unexpectedly invited journalists to ask questions related to the agenda of the event if they needed to clarify anything (spoiler: such questions were asked).

“Of course, we made the headlines - both in terms of the form and the agenda,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said describing the way his talks with Vladimir Putin were covered by the media. “As it drew a lot of attention and sparked a lot of talks around the world, I decided to convene this meeting to discuss the matters we raised at the Sochi talks,” the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the agenda of his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been determined long ago and that this meeting was part of the continuous inter-state communication at various levels. Aleksandr Lukashenko had given a glimpse at the Sochi meeting agenda at the recent event at the government headquarters. The President had noted back then that at the meeting the two presidents would focus on trade and economy. “It was indeed so,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that discussions about the meeting in Sochi had begun with speculations about the content of the black suitcase that can be seen near the head of state in videos. Some mass media even made that point the key news. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “If we published all the documents of this little suitcase, then there would probably be a lot of talk and there would be something to discuss.”

In his words, the suitcase contained analytical papers prepared by Belarusian intelligence services. The presidents had long before established the practice of sharing such information if it concerns one of the sides. “Information about the situation around Belarus and Russia, about the Union State of Belarus and Russia as a whole, about the present attitude of America, the European Union, and others towards the People’s Republic of China, and a lot of other similar materials,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained. “It is a lot of work of our government agencies, primarily intelligence services, the analytical materials I wanted President Putin to learn about.”

Speaking about negotiations with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the matter of the arrested Ryanair flight passengers had been certainly discussed, but the presidents had spent only a small amount of time talking about it. “The investigation concerning both persons will proceed in Belarus. It is unbendable. I told the President of Russia about it. I assured him there will be no issues with the consuls’ access [to the arrestees]. I don’t think they take offense, we do more than providing information, if they want to meet, they can go ahead. It is an international practice,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

During the talks the two heads of state also discussed support to the Belarusian national airline Belavia. "You know my position: Belavia had nothing to do with the so-called incident. The company did not land the plane, neither did it fly it. It has nothing to do with it. This is the blatant error of the West that has linked the company with that incident," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

It is expected that the airline will not only operate more flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg but will fly to other Russian cities, including sea resorts.

“Since Belarus has recreation centers on the Black Sea, near Sochi and Tuapse, I asked Russian partners to allow Belavia to fly to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai and Kazan. We have designated several more cities. I must say that there was no rejection despite the pandemic (Russia is very cautious in this respect), there was no rejection on the part of Vladimir Putin," the President said.

“The main thing for us is to give work to our pilots and to make use of the aircraft that we worked so hard to acquire during difficult times. I promised that we wouldn't leave Belavia high and dry. Whatever it takes, we will provide all-round support. It is a matter of honor for us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Therefore, the minister of foreign affairs, the transport minister need to organize the implementation of our agreements as soon as possible so that the Belavia workforce (almost 2,000 people) should have a job and be sure that the government would not give up on them. They have suffered for nothing."

At the same time, the head of state asked Belarusians to pay more attention to their native country and domestic tourism.  "I am saddened by the fact that Belarusians, especially young people, do not know Belarus well. They are well familiar with the United Arab Emirates, Montenegro, Turkey or Spain’s Barcelona, but they do not know Belarus. Beautiful places are many. So I would urge Belarusians not to seek to fly to some distant places with three or four layovers. But if someone has already bought tickets or if someone wants to travel to other countries, well, let them. We cannot stop them,” the President noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also said that Belarus and Russia will consider a possibility to launch flights to Crimea.

“Ukraine has closed its airspace to Belarus’ flights. We run a sanatorium in Crimea, in Miskhor, where people have always traveled. In order not to cause tensions, we used to travel through Ukraine, some by train, some by car, some by plane. They have introduced this flight ban. I have asked Putin to think how we can get to Crimea. We will not fly through Poland: they do not allow it either,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to him, Belarus and Russia will work out a possibility to operate flights to Crimea. Such an instruction has already been given to the authorities in charge. “I think there will be no problems with that. They closed their airspace - well, there are countries through which we can always get to Crimea,” the President added.

The two leaders focused on the economic cooperation. In particular, they discussed the matter of Russian oil supplies to Belarusian oil refineries. “The governments had worked on this issue very seriously, and we agreed that there would be no problems with oil supplies. Russia benefits from it. We can process 22 million tonnes of oil. The Russian President pledged uninterrupted oil supplies to Belarusian refineries. The same way, there will be no problems with the supply of petroleum products to the Russian market and to other markets,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to the head of state, the amount of supplies will remain unchanged. An agreement in principle was reached at the meeting to minimize losses incurred by Belarusian refineries from Russia’s tax maneuver starting from 1 January 2022. Governments were instructed to finalize this matter. “We found a solution to the tax maneuver. Not even we, but the governments, we just agreed on and approved it. We will keep negotiating this matter,” the President said.

“There are no problems with gas supplies. We will get as much as needed. However, this issue remains open. It has not been finalized in the sense that the President promised me to think how to help Belarus with the gas price in this situation,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Belarus and Russia are set to formalize these arrangements in an intergovernmental agreement.

The two countries have long debated the convergence of their customs systems and laws. According to the Belarusian President, this is not the hottest issue. “We have worked a lot on this issue in the EAEU, and we, Belarus and Russia, have very similar customs legislation,” the head of state explained.

He is convinced that there is no need to create supranational bodies in this field. Perhaps it would be better to consider setting up a joint center that would have access to both Belarusian and Russian processes. The feasibility of this idea is yet to be discussed.

It was Russia that suggested converging the tax legislations. According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, if this proposal materializes, the two countries will have an equal footing in this matter. “We will see how things are in Russia, and they will see how things are here. Trust is the necessary precondition to move forward,” he added.

The two countries see eye to eye with each other when it comes to cooperation in the defense industry and supply of weapons. “We did not discuss any permanent redeployment of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation or the creation of some kind of bases. It was not under discussion, and we do not even need it,” the Belarusian leader said.

At the same time, Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that Russia is close to Belarus, and if any suspicious military activity by NATO is spotted, allied units can be redeployed to Belarus within 24 hours. “In the event of escalation,” he added.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the presidents devoted a lot of time to discussing this matter. The heads of state agreed to find an algorithm for responding to restrictive measures imposed by the West. The Belarusian President instructed the government to deal with this matter as fast as possible. “The response should be reasonable, not hasty, we should not shoot ourselves in the foot, in the arm,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said addressing the prime minister.

He said that Belarus and Russia are full of determination to jointly resist the attacks from the outside: “Both President Putin and I understand that certain forces are beginning to unite against us. We understand perfectly well what is going on around our country, and we take the same view of the situation. We are determined to resist all these attacks together.

The heads of state also discussed the upcoming summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, the situation in Ukraine and the policy of its top officials. The presidents also discussed in detail the impacts of the pandemic.

The head of state remarked that he did not even raise the matter of the second tranche of the loan during his meeting with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Vladimir Putin did at the end of the meeting. “When we were saying goodbyes, the Russian President told me on the way: I have to remind you that you will get the second tranche of the previously negotiated $1 billion loan literally in June,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“Those were the main topics raised at that meeting. I have a good impression from these negotiations,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.

At the meeting to discuss the cooperation with Russia the President answered journalists’ questions. Aleksandr Lukashenko was asked to comment on the EU’s threats to ban the transit of Russian gas through Belarus. Andrei Krivosheyev, a political columnist at the Belarusian TV and Radio Company, said that these proposals are currently being discussed in the European Union. In his opinion, in this way they want to make Russia to reconsider her interest in the "Ukrainian pipe." According to him, such unfriendly steps of the West, the sanctions policy in general look more and more like a hostile takeover of sectors of the Belarusian economy.

“You have used the term ‘a hostile takeover’. I absolutely agree with this,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “It is true that these are attempts of a hostile takeover. But they will fail,” he added.

The European Union will not shoot itself in the foot by banning transit of Russian gas through Belarus, the President believes. “This will come at too high a price for them. In such a situation, they will be dealing not only with Belarus, but primarily with Russia,” he pointed out.

Journalists noted that the economy was always the core of Belarus-Russia relations, but the question of flights to Crimea, has, among other things, a certain political aspect. Aleksandr Lukashenko responded that the economy remains a priority.

“As for Crimea, please, pay attention: I said that we will discuss this matter. But we cannot prohibit flying to Crimea through Ukraine. It was not us who started this. I asked Poroshenko (he was the president back then): How can I get to Crimea now? He answered: No problem, but only through Ukraine. I said: Got it. Today I would like to ask Zelenskyy: If I want to fly to Crimea, how can I do it today? Only through Russia. Therefore, I have a free hand and I do not worry about it. They schemed and contrived this situation that looks like a provocation. Therefore, probably, I am not to blame, just like other Belarusians,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.