Aliaksandr Yarashuk: “It's the end of Lukashenka's tricks”

The situation with MAZ and oil shows that the Belarusian regime has run out of historical resources.

Aliaksandr Yarashuk, the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, spoke to charter97.org about the results of Uladzimir Siamashka's visit to Moscow.

“The situation was supposed to reach the moment when a decision should be taken amid pressure from Moscow to speed up the process. The matter is not only that huge Russia wants 'family silver', but also that game rules must be the same in the Customs Union. Two absolutely different economic organisms cannot play on equal terms in the game,” the trade union leader noted.

He stressed that everything depends on Russia in the situation of MAZ privatisation.

“It may be setting up MAZ-KAMAZ holding or selling the enterprise. The Belarusian authorities are losing opportunities to maneuver. No more endless promises and tricks in relation to the Kremlin that used to go unpunished,” Yarashuk said.

He thinks that all risky undertakings finally end.

“Lukashenka has no more resources for his tricks. He put all eggs in one basket. He could have built  relations not only with Russia, but also with the EU and the US. The Belarusian ruler thought he could wag the Kremlin like the tail. We observe the bankruptcy of the political and economic course of the country's leadership. Only the country's top officials can be blamed for the current situation in Belarus. What concerns a possibility of a manoeuvre or escape routes, it's possible that we'll be lucky again. But in general, the historical resource of the Belarusian regime is exhausted. That's obvious. The car has run out of fuel but continues to move inertially,” Aliaksandr Yarashuk is confident.

Belarus's deputy PM Uladizmir Siamashka said to journalists after his return from Moscow where he had met with Russian deputy PM Arkady Dvorkovich that no agreement on Russian oil supplies to Belarus had been reached.

The prime minsters of the two countries are expected to meet in Moscow on May 21. Mikhail Miasnikovich and Dmitry Medvedev will discuss important issues of the Russian-Belarusian cooperation  in the area of trade, investments and energy.