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俄经济部长：俄罗斯与白俄罗斯一体化合作方案90%达成一致
2019-06-16 14:52 来源:澎湃新闻
原标题：俄经济部长：俄罗斯与白俄罗斯一体化合作方案90%达成一致
虽然俄罗斯总统普京此前在圣彼得堡国际经济论坛之上否认了与白俄罗斯有合并的打算，但两国的一体化进程确实是在不断前进与发展中。
据俄罗斯塔斯社6月15日报道，俄罗斯经济发展部部长马克西姆•奥列什金（Maxim Oreshkin）本周六在同白俄罗斯官员会晤之后表示，目前俄白两国已经就未来一体化方案中90%的部分达成了共识，有关讨论会在6月21日即将举行的双边总理会谈之中继续涉及。
奥列什金表示，三周前白俄罗斯总理在同梅德韦杰夫总理交流时双方已经确认了方案中约70%的部分，现在一体化合作方案已经确认了90%，还有一些最后的细节有待确认，相信在接下来的总理会谈中双方将向前迈出一大步。
一直以来，俄白两国都存在“合并”的传闻。对此，白俄罗斯总统卢卡申科3月1日在首都明斯克会见媒体时表示他认为俄罗斯政府没有把白俄罗斯并入俄罗斯的意愿。此前普京也在刚刚结束的圣彼得堡国际经济论坛表示，俄罗斯人、白俄罗斯人和乌克兰人是同一个民族，生活在不同的国家，“这个问题我已经讲过很多次，现在没有任何合并国家的理由，我们没有这样的计划和意愿。”
而白俄罗斯外长马凯5月也指出，俄罗斯与白俄罗斯之间不存在分歧和问题，两国在很多问题上拥有相同的立场，“我们之间完全没有任何分歧和问题，我们在很多迫切的问题上拥有相同立场。”
据塔斯社6月15日报道，奥列什金表示目前双方所制定的方案是一个一体化整体路线图，包括确认双方未来整合的原则与概念。2018年12月，俄白双方同意由两国经济部长领导建立一体化发展政府间工作组。返回搜狐，查看更多
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Russian Economy Minister: 90% agreement on Russia-Belarus integration cooperation program
2019-06-16 14:52 Source: 澎湃News
Original title: Russian Economy Minister: 90% agreement between Russia and Belarus
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin previously denied the intention of merging with Belarus at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the integration process between the two countries is indeed constantly advancing and developing.
According to a report by the Russian Tass news agency on June 15, the Minister of Economic Development of Russia, Maxim Oreshkin, said after meeting with Belarusian officials this Saturday that Russia and Belarus have already reached 90 in the future integration plan. A part of the consensus reached, and the discussion will continue to be covered in the forthcoming bilateral prime ministerial talks on June 21.
Oleshkin said that three weeks ago, when the Prime Minister of Belarus exchanged with Prime Minister Medvedev, the two sides had confirmed about 70% of the plan. Now the integrated cooperation program has confirmed 90%, and some final details are still to be confirmed. I believe that the two sides will take a big step forward in the next prime ministerial talks.
All along, Russia and Belarus have rumors of "merger". In response, Belarusian President Lukashenko met with the media in the capital Minsk on March 1 and said that he believed that the Russian government did not intend to incorporate Belarus into Russia. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which was just concluded, Putin said that Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are the same people and live in different countries. "I have already said this question many times. Now there is no reason to merge the country. We don't have such plans and wishes."
Belarusian Foreign Minister Ma Kai also pointed out in May that there are no differences and problems between Russia and Belarus. The two countries share the same position on many issues. "We have no differences or problems at all. We have many urgent issues. The same position."
According to the Tass news agency reported on June 15, Oleshkin said that the current plan developed by the two sides is an integrated overall road map, including the principles and concepts that confirm the future integration of the two sides. In December 2018, Russia and Belarus agreed to establish an intergovernmental working group on integrated development led by the economic ministers of the two countries. Go back to Sohu and see more
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...-to-retain-power-through-a-union-with-belarus
Putin’s Retirement Plan Depends on Belarus
To retain power, he is positioning himself as the leader of a closer union between Russia and its dependent neighbor.
By
Leonid Bershidsky
January 8, 2019, 2:00 PM GMT+8
Putin and President Lukashenko are old friends.
Photographer: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.
Read more opinion Follow @Bershidsky on Twitter
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President Vladimir Putin has more than five years left in office, but he must already contemplate his next move. The transition among Russia’s leaders is seldom smooth, so Putin is looking at ways to ensure his continued influence by forging a closer union with neighboring Belarus. A change in the Russian oil taxation regime has provided the opportunity for exploring this scenario.
The Russian constitution allows a president to serve only two consecutive terms. In 2008, rather than change the law and be ridiculed as the equal of Central Asian dictators, Putin ceded the presidency to a close ally, Dmitry Medvedev. But he hated playing second fiddle and disliked Medvedev’s openness to more cooperation with the U.S.; besides, trusting anyone with such a handover could be a bigger risk today, in a country increasingly run by the security apparatus. Simply going into retirement in 2024 is an even scarier option: Putin could never be certain of any personal security guarantees his successor might provide.
That makes the Belarus deal especially attractive. Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, and the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, driven by regrets about the dissolution of economic ties after the Soviet Union’s breakup, signed a framework union treaty in 1997. The 1999 version of the document essentially describes a federation of the two states, with a single currency, flag and emblem, a common market and a unified judiciary. It’s supposed to be run by a Supreme State Council, headed by the presidents of the two countries on a rotating basis “unless they agree otherwise.” Lukashenko has headed the body since 2000, but it doesn’t have much real power because the union treaty was never fully operational. The only element of the union that exists for ordinary people today is a seamless joint labor market.
Russia itself has been lukewarm about a closer union with economically weak Belarus, run by Lukashenko’s thoroughly Soviet team. In particular, extending the Russian monetary system to Belarus, as Lukashenko has at times suggested, could weaken the ruble and undermine Russia’s macroeconomic stability. Russia had enough problems of its own even to consider spreading its rickety economic umbrella over a country of almost 10 million with a purchasing power-adjusted per capita economic output about a third smaller than Russia’s, according to the International Monetary Fund. Lukashenko, for his part, only wanted the economic benefits of a closer union with Russia, such as cheap oil and gas, but not the loss of sovereignty that would come with implementing the union treaty. In a way, it was cheaper for Russia to give him what he wanted than to push for more.
Now, however, unification is politically attractive to Putin, and not just because he could take over a much strengthened Supreme State Council in 2024, retaining a large measure of his power for life without changing the constitution.
Russia is closer than ever to resolving a territorial dispute with Japan that has festered since 1945. Although it would unlock major Japanese investment, the deal would mean handing over some of the disputed Far Eastern islands, a potentially unpopular move that it would be good to balance by territorial gains elsewhere. A peaceful reunification with Belarusians also could be spun as a kind of compensation to Russians for the recent rift with once equally friendly Ukraine.
This is a good moment for Putin to put pressure on Lukashenko without looking overly aggressive. Russia doesn’t have to threaten to cut off gas supplies, raise energy prices or insist on a greater military presence. Belarus stands to lose billions of dollars from a perfectly reasonable tax reform going on in Russia today.
The reform is known as the “tax maneuver”: Starting this year, Russia is gradually phasing out oil export duties, which stand at 30 percent today, and replacing them with a higher mineral extraction tax. The idea is to lower de facto fuel subsidies for the domestic market: All oil, whether exported or sold domestically, will eventually be taxed the same.
That means Belarus, which today buys Russian oil duty-free and exports much of it, charging its own duties, will have to pay more. This year, according to the Belarusian Finance Ministry, the country stands to lose $300 million from the Russian “tax maneuver” given an oil price of about $70 per barrel. That’s already quite a lot for a country with an economic output of about $55 billion, and the losses will mount as the Russian export duties disappear.
Lukashenko has asked Russia to reimburse Belarus for the losses either by lowering the oil price or via a direct budgetary transfer. But in December, multiple Russian government officials, including Prime Minister Medvedev and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, linked any compensation to a deeper integration with Russia under the 1999 union treaty.
Though Lukashenko has publicly warned Russia against trying to swallow up Belarus and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said a Russia-Belarus merger isn’t the subject of discussion, the denials only concern a full takeover, rather than a deeper integration scenario with Belarus and Russia both formally ceding part of their sovereignty to the union state. That scenario — a single currency, a unified judiciary and a harmonized tax system — appears to be on Russian officials’ minds. During two meetings with Lukashenko in late December, however, Putin failed to convince his junior partner to go down the unification path. Most Belarusians, too, believe Belarus should be independent, though a Russsian ally.
Lukashenko’s alternative to bending to Putin’s pressure is seeking help in the West, but that, in a way, is a less attractive option for him: He suspects the U.S. and the European Union want to undermine his near-absolute power. As many times before in his career, the Belarusian leader is caught between a rock and a hard place. Whether he can wiggle out this time depends largely on whether Putin finds other ways to resolve his own political problems, both with succession and with the balance of gains and sacrifices in foreign policy. If he doesn’t, the pressure may become unbearable for the Belarusian dictator.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
Leonid Bershidsky at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Max Berley at [email protected]
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019...l-fledged-union-with-belarus-poll-says-a65051
Half of Russians Oppose Full-Fledged Union With Belarus, Poll Says
April 2, 2019
Kremlin.ru
Almost half of Russians oppose uniting with neighboring Belarus into a single country, according to a state-funded survey published on the 20th anniversary of the countries’ integration project.
The potential merger between Minsk and Moscow became a widely discussed possibility in 2019 as a potential loophole for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power after his term ends in 2024. April 2 marks 20 years since the two countries signed a treaty establishing the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
opinion
Russia and Belarus Integration Talks Reach Deadlock
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According to poll results published by the state-funded VTsIOM pollster on Tuesday, 48 percent of Russian respondents said “unification is not necessary” between Russia and Belarus. Instead, they favored “good neighborly relations.”
VTsIOM sociologist Mikhail Mamonov said the results indicate a “hidden fear that [Russia’s union with Belarus] could produce a mixed bag for the Russian economy.”
The share of those who support an all-out merger between Russia and Belarus and those who think Belarus should join Russia as a regional subject was split into 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
news
A Valentine's Day Ski Date for Two: Putin and Lukashenko Hit the Slopes
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The VTsIOM survey also revealed that only 10 percent of Russians have heard of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, an integration project between the neighbors. Over half of the respondents said they were hearing about the Union State for the first time, while 39 percent said they were vaguely aware of it.
Russia announced a $600 million loan to Belarus on the eve of the anniversary. Putin also sent a message of greetings to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko to mark the bilateral Union State’s anniversary.
The Russian president has voiced support for Russia to unite with Belarus as early as 2011.
VTsIOM conducted the survey among 1,600 Russians on Jan. 15.
Read more about: Belarus
Union State
Description
The Union State, also referred to as the Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational union consisting of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Wikipedia
Founded: 1996
Date format: dd.mm.yyyy
Legislature: Supreme State Council
Headquarters: Moscow, Russia
Administrative centers: Staraya Square, Moscow
Currencies: Belarusian ruble, Russian ruble
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-bel...n-vladimir-putin-alexander-lukashenko-1333800
Russia May Absorb Belarus: 'We’re Ready to Unite,' President Says
By David Brennan On 2/16/19 at 10:48 AM EST
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Mike Pompeo Warns Vladimir Putin Is Threatening Democracies Everywhere, Says West Took Its Eye Off Russia
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World International Affairs Russia Belarus Union
The president of Belarus has said the country is ready to unite with long-time ally Russia, raising the prospect of Moscow absorbing the eastern European dictatorship on the borders of Poland and Lithuania.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet state since the presidential post was created in 1994, said Friday his nation was ready to join with Russia, The Moscow Times reported.
Lukashenko made the comments on the third and final day of bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rumors have long abounded that Belarus could be absorbed into Russia under Putin's watch, deepening the “union state” arrangement that has existed between them since the late 1990s.
“The two of us could unite tomorrow, no problem,” Lukashenko said Friday. “But are you—Russians and Belarusians—ready for it?” the president added, according to Interfax. “We're ready to unite and consolidate our efforts, states and peoples as far as we're ready.”
Putin tried to question the very concept of independent states in his subsequent remarks. “There are simply no fully independent states in the world. The modern world is a world of interdependence,” the Russian president said.
He pointed to the European Union as proof of his assertion. “There, the European Parliament makes more binding decisions for all members than the Supreme Soviet of the USSR once took such decisions for the Union republics. Is it not a dependency?” Putin asked.
Putin also suggested that U.S. military deployments in Europe have undermined nation sovereignty there. “Do you think someone from European countries wants U.S. medium-range missiles to appear in Europe?” he asked.
“No one wants that. But they sit, they keep quiet. Where is their sovereignty? But apparently they believe that in the ultimate, general calculation, they are interested in such an organization in which they have invested part of their sovereignty,” he said.
Putin's presidential term will end in 2024, and the current constitution prevents him for running again. It has been suggested that he could bypass these restrictions by creating a new nation through a union with Belarus.
The president voiced his support for the idea as long ago as 2011, when he said a union was “possible, desirable and wholly dependent on the will of the Belarusian people.”
Related Stories
However, the long-serving dictator has previously dismissed suggestions he would allow his nation to fall under Kremlin governance. “Sovereignty is sacred,” he said in December, amid a spat with Moscow over oil and gas supply. “If someone wants to break [Belarus] into regions and force us to become a subject of Russia, that will never happen.”
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko welcomes his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin prior to the Collective Security Treaty Organisation summit in Minsk, Belarus, on November 30, 2017. MIKHAIL METZEL/AFP/Getty Images
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俄经济部长：俄罗斯与白俄罗斯一体化合作方案90%达成一致
2019-06-16 14:52 来源:澎湃新闻
原标题：俄经济部长：俄罗斯与白俄罗斯一体化合作方案90%达成一致
虽然俄罗斯总统普京此前在圣彼得堡国际经济论坛之上否认了与白俄罗斯有合并的打算，但两国的一体化进程确实是在不断前进与发展中。
据俄罗斯塔斯社6月15日报道，俄罗斯经济发展部部长马克西姆•奥列什金（Maxim Oreshkin）本周六在同白俄罗斯官员会晤之后表示，目前俄白两国已经就未来一体化方案中90%的部分达成了共识，有关讨论会在6月21日即将举行的双边总理会谈之中继续涉及。
奥列什金表示，三周前白俄罗斯总理在同梅德韦杰夫总理交流时双方已经确认了方案中约70%的部分，现在一体化合作方案已经确认了90%，还有一些最后的细节有待确认，相信在接下来的总理会谈中双方将向前迈出一大步。
一直以来，俄白两国都存在“合并”的传闻。对此，白俄罗斯总统卢卡申科3月1日在首都明斯克会见媒体时表示他认为俄罗斯政府没有把白俄罗斯并入俄罗斯的意愿。此前普京也在刚刚结束的圣彼得堡国际经济论坛表示，俄罗斯人、白俄罗斯人和乌克兰人是同一个民族，生活在不同的国家，“这个问题我已经讲过很多次，现在没有任何合并国家的理由，我们没有这样的计划和意愿。”
而白俄罗斯外长马凯5月也指出，俄罗斯与白俄罗斯之间不存在分歧和问题，两国在很多问题上拥有相同的立场，“我们之间完全没有任何分歧和问题，我们在很多迫切的问题上拥有相同立场。”
据塔斯社6月15日报道，奥列什金表示目前双方所制定的方案是一个一体化整体路线图，包括确认双方未来整合的原则与概念。2018年12月，俄白双方同意由两国经济部长领导建立一体化发展政府间工作组。返回搜狐，查看更多
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Russian Economy Minister: 90% agreement on Russia-Belarus integration cooperation program
2019-06-16 14:52 Source: 澎湃News
Original title: Russian Economy Minister: 90% agreement between Russia and Belarus
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin previously denied the intention of merging with Belarus at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the integration process between the two countries is indeed constantly advancing and developing.
According to a report by the Russian Tass news agency on June 15, the Minister of Economic Development of Russia, Maxim Oreshkin, said after meeting with Belarusian officials this Saturday that Russia and Belarus have already reached 90 in the future integration plan. A part of the consensus reached, and the discussion will continue to be covered in the forthcoming bilateral prime ministerial talks on June 21.
Oleshkin said that three weeks ago, when the Prime Minister of Belarus exchanged with Prime Minister Medvedev, the two sides had confirmed about 70% of the plan. Now the integrated cooperation program has confirmed 90%, and some final details are still to be confirmed. I believe that the two sides will take a big step forward in the next prime ministerial talks.
All along, Russia and Belarus have rumors of "merger". In response, Belarusian President Lukashenko met with the media in the capital Minsk on March 1 and said that he believed that the Russian government did not intend to incorporate Belarus into Russia. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which was just concluded, Putin said that Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians are the same people and live in different countries. "I have already said this question many times. Now there is no reason to merge the country. We don't have such plans and wishes."
Belarusian Foreign Minister Ma Kai also pointed out in May that there are no differences and problems between Russia and Belarus. The two countries share the same position on many issues. "We have no differences or problems at all. We have many urgent issues. The same position."
According to the Tass news agency reported on June 15, Oleshkin said that the current plan developed by the two sides is an integrated overall road map, including the principles and concepts that confirm the future integration of the two sides. In December 2018, Russia and Belarus agreed to establish an intergovernmental working group on integrated development led by the economic ministers of the two countries. Go back to Sohu and see more
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...-to-retain-power-through-a-union-with-belarus
Putin’s Retirement Plan Depends on Belarus
To retain power, he is positioning himself as the leader of a closer union between Russia and its dependent neighbor.
By
Leonid Bershidsky
January 8, 2019, 2:00 PM GMT+8
Putin and President Lukashenko are old friends.
Photographer: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.
Read more opinion Follow @Bershidsky on Twitter
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President Vladimir Putin has more than five years left in office, but he must already contemplate his next move. The transition among Russia’s leaders is seldom smooth, so Putin is looking at ways to ensure his continued influence by forging a closer union with neighboring Belarus. A change in the Russian oil taxation regime has provided the opportunity for exploring this scenario.
The Russian constitution allows a president to serve only two consecutive terms. In 2008, rather than change the law and be ridiculed as the equal of Central Asian dictators, Putin ceded the presidency to a close ally, Dmitry Medvedev. But he hated playing second fiddle and disliked Medvedev’s openness to more cooperation with the U.S.; besides, trusting anyone with such a handover could be a bigger risk today, in a country increasingly run by the security apparatus. Simply going into retirement in 2024 is an even scarier option: Putin could never be certain of any personal security guarantees his successor might provide.
That makes the Belarus deal especially attractive. Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, and the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, driven by regrets about the dissolution of economic ties after the Soviet Union’s breakup, signed a framework union treaty in 1997. The 1999 version of the document essentially describes a federation of the two states, with a single currency, flag and emblem, a common market and a unified judiciary. It’s supposed to be run by a Supreme State Council, headed by the presidents of the two countries on a rotating basis “unless they agree otherwise.” Lukashenko has headed the body since 2000, but it doesn’t have much real power because the union treaty was never fully operational. The only element of the union that exists for ordinary people today is a seamless joint labor market.
Russia itself has been lukewarm about a closer union with economically weak Belarus, run by Lukashenko’s thoroughly Soviet team. In particular, extending the Russian monetary system to Belarus, as Lukashenko has at times suggested, could weaken the ruble and undermine Russia’s macroeconomic stability. Russia had enough problems of its own even to consider spreading its rickety economic umbrella over a country of almost 10 million with a purchasing power-adjusted per capita economic output about a third smaller than Russia’s, according to the International Monetary Fund. Lukashenko, for his part, only wanted the economic benefits of a closer union with Russia, such as cheap oil and gas, but not the loss of sovereignty that would come with implementing the union treaty. In a way, it was cheaper for Russia to give him what he wanted than to push for more.
Now, however, unification is politically attractive to Putin, and not just because he could take over a much strengthened Supreme State Council in 2024, retaining a large measure of his power for life without changing the constitution.
Russia is closer than ever to resolving a territorial dispute with Japan that has festered since 1945. Although it would unlock major Japanese investment, the deal would mean handing over some of the disputed Far Eastern islands, a potentially unpopular move that it would be good to balance by territorial gains elsewhere. A peaceful reunification with Belarusians also could be spun as a kind of compensation to Russians for the recent rift with once equally friendly Ukraine.
This is a good moment for Putin to put pressure on Lukashenko without looking overly aggressive. Russia doesn’t have to threaten to cut off gas supplies, raise energy prices or insist on a greater military presence. Belarus stands to lose billions of dollars from a perfectly reasonable tax reform going on in Russia today.
The reform is known as the “tax maneuver”: Starting this year, Russia is gradually phasing out oil export duties, which stand at 30 percent today, and replacing them with a higher mineral extraction tax. The idea is to lower de facto fuel subsidies for the domestic market: All oil, whether exported or sold domestically, will eventually be taxed the same.
That means Belarus, which today buys Russian oil duty-free and exports much of it, charging its own duties, will have to pay more. This year, according to the Belarusian Finance Ministry, the country stands to lose $300 million from the Russian “tax maneuver” given an oil price of about $70 per barrel. That’s already quite a lot for a country with an economic output of about $55 billion, and the losses will mount as the Russian export duties disappear.
Lukashenko has asked Russia to reimburse Belarus for the losses either by lowering the oil price or via a direct budgetary transfer. But in December, multiple Russian government officials, including Prime Minister Medvedev and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, linked any compensation to a deeper integration with Russia under the 1999 union treaty.
Though Lukashenko has publicly warned Russia against trying to swallow up Belarus and Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said a Russia-Belarus merger isn’t the subject of discussion, the denials only concern a full takeover, rather than a deeper integration scenario with Belarus and Russia both formally ceding part of their sovereignty to the union state. That scenario — a single currency, a unified judiciary and a harmonized tax system — appears to be on Russian officials’ minds. During two meetings with Lukashenko in late December, however, Putin failed to convince his junior partner to go down the unification path. Most Belarusians, too, believe Belarus should be independent, though a Russsian ally.
Lukashenko’s alternative to bending to Putin’s pressure is seeking help in the West, but that, in a way, is a less attractive option for him: He suspects the U.S. and the European Union want to undermine his near-absolute power. As many times before in his career, the Belarusian leader is caught between a rock and a hard place. Whether he can wiggle out this time depends largely on whether Putin finds other ways to resolve his own political problems, both with succession and with the balance of gains and sacrifices in foreign policy. If he doesn’t, the pressure may become unbearable for the Belarusian dictator.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
Leonid Bershidsky at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Max Berley at [email protected]
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019...l-fledged-union-with-belarus-poll-says-a65051
Half of Russians Oppose Full-Fledged Union With Belarus, Poll Says
April 2, 2019
Almost half of Russians oppose uniting with neighboring Belarus into a single country, according to a state-funded survey published on the 20th anniversary of the countries’ integration project.
The potential merger between Minsk and Moscow became a widely discussed possibility in 2019 as a potential loophole for Russian President Vladimir Putin to stay in power after his term ends in 2024. April 2 marks 20 years since the two countries signed a treaty establishing the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
opinion
Russia and Belarus Integration Talks Reach Deadlock
Read more
According to poll results published by the state-funded VTsIOM pollster on Tuesday, 48 percent of Russian respondents said “unification is not necessary” between Russia and Belarus. Instead, they favored “good neighborly relations.”
VTsIOM sociologist Mikhail Mamonov said the results indicate a “hidden fear that [Russia’s union with Belarus] could produce a mixed bag for the Russian economy.”
The share of those who support an all-out merger between Russia and Belarus and those who think Belarus should join Russia as a regional subject was split into 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
news
A Valentine's Day Ski Date for Two: Putin and Lukashenko Hit the Slopes
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The VTsIOM survey also revealed that only 10 percent of Russians have heard of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, an integration project between the neighbors. Over half of the respondents said they were hearing about the Union State for the first time, while 39 percent said they were vaguely aware of it.
Russia announced a $600 million loan to Belarus on the eve of the anniversary. Putin also sent a message of greetings to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko to mark the bilateral Union State’s anniversary.
The Russian president has voiced support for Russia to unite with Belarus as early as 2011.
VTsIOM conducted the survey among 1,600 Russians on Jan. 15.
Read more about: Belarus
Union State
Description
The Union State, also referred to as the Union State of Russia and Belarus, is a supranational union consisting of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. Wikipedia
Founded: 1996
Date format: dd.mm.yyyy
Legislature: Supreme State Council
Headquarters: Moscow, Russia
Administrative centers: Staraya Square, Moscow
Currencies: Belarusian ruble, Russian ruble
https://www.newsweek.com/russia-bel...n-vladimir-putin-alexander-lukashenko-1333800
Russia May Absorb Belarus: 'We’re Ready to Unite,' President Says
By David Brennan On 2/16/19 at 10:48 AM EST
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Mike Pompeo Warns Vladimir Putin Is Threatening Democracies Everywhere, Says West Took Its Eye Off Russia
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World International Affairs Russia Belarus Union
The president of Belarus has said the country is ready to unite with long-time ally Russia, raising the prospect of Moscow absorbing the eastern European dictatorship on the borders of Poland and Lithuania.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet state since the presidential post was created in 1994, said Friday his nation was ready to join with Russia, The Moscow Times reported.
Lukashenko made the comments on the third and final day of bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rumors have long abounded that Belarus could be absorbed into Russia under Putin's watch, deepening the “union state” arrangement that has existed between them since the late 1990s.
“The two of us could unite tomorrow, no problem,” Lukashenko said Friday. “But are you—Russians and Belarusians—ready for it?” the president added, according to Interfax. “We're ready to unite and consolidate our efforts, states and peoples as far as we're ready.”
Putin tried to question the very concept of independent states in his subsequent remarks. “There are simply no fully independent states in the world. The modern world is a world of interdependence,” the Russian president said.
He pointed to the European Union as proof of his assertion. “There, the European Parliament makes more binding decisions for all members than the Supreme Soviet of the USSR once took such decisions for the Union republics. Is it not a dependency?” Putin asked.
Putin also suggested that U.S. military deployments in Europe have undermined nation sovereignty there. “Do you think someone from European countries wants U.S. medium-range missiles to appear in Europe?” he asked.
“No one wants that. But they sit, they keep quiet. Where is their sovereignty? But apparently they believe that in the ultimate, general calculation, they are interested in such an organization in which they have invested part of their sovereignty,” he said.
Putin's presidential term will end in 2024, and the current constitution prevents him for running again. It has been suggested that he could bypass these restrictions by creating a new nation through a union with Belarus.
The president voiced his support for the idea as long ago as 2011, when he said a union was “possible, desirable and wholly dependent on the will of the Belarusian people.”
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However, the long-serving dictator has previously dismissed suggestions he would allow his nation to fall under Kremlin governance. “Sovereignty is sacred,” he said in December, amid a spat with Moscow over oil and gas supply. “If someone wants to break [Belarus] into regions and force us to become a subject of Russia, that will never happen.”
