Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 10 October (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia need to agree on equal conditions for economic operators, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said as he heard out a report on the agreements with Russia regarding the energy supplies on 10 October, BelTA has learned.

“We do not demand anything extraordinary from the Russian Federation. We want our economic operators and our people to be in equal conditions in the Union State of Belarus and Russia in accordance with the Union State Treaty. This is the only thing that we demand,” the President said. “This will be the main issue in my talks with President Putin. I am not going to raise any issues regarding the accounting. This is what will be in the spotlight,” Alexander Lukashenko noted.

Alexander Lukashenko remarked that he had asked the specialists who took part in the negotiations to clarify the details of the agreement. “The main thing is to make sure that our yesterday’s agreements will help us avoid similar conflicts with Russia in the future,” the President said.

“Such disputes have no economic sense. More so, they are costly. It is inappropriate to have such relations with Russia,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

The head of state asked whether the Belarusian side loses anything as a result of the current agreements and what the long-term effect will be. “You say the effect is long-term, till 2019. But time will pass, and Belarusian economic operators will still be in unequal conditions (in comparison with Russians. – BelTA’s note),” the President noted.

In this context, Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that Belarus and Russia need to agree on equal conditions for economic operators in accordance with the Union State Treaty.