In Sochi Medvedev to demand explanation from Lukashenka

Today leaders of Belarus and Russia Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Dmitry Medvedev are to meet in Sochi. As informed by Russian officials, during the meeting the heads of the states are to discuss issues of transition to market formation of prices, preparation to the CIS summit, as well as Russia’s war with Georgia and the stance of Belarus towards it. The talks are expected to be harsh. The meeting of the prime ministers hasn’t clarified the cost of gas in the new year.

And as the newspaper “Vedomosti” writes, in fact Lukashenka is having rest in Sochi for a few days already, getting ready for the meeting with the Russian President.

“Continuation of work on forming a common economic space and reinforcing of the foundations of the international ties are on the agenda of the talks. In this respect, the priority is given to keeping to agreements on step-by-step transition to principles of market formation of prices in trade and economic cooperation achieved earlier, including the sphere of fuel and energy,” a source in the Kremlin told to RIA Novosti.

“The issues discussed in this context are aimed at giving an additional impulse to further integration processes and making mutually beneficial investments,” he noted.

At the same time, in an interview to “Vedomosti” the press-secretary of the State Secretary of the “union state” Pavel Borodin, Ivan Makushok, stated that Lukashenka and Medvedev won’t pass over the situation in South Ossetia.

On August 12 the Ambassador of Russia to Belarus Alexander Surikov criticized the Belarusian authorities for “keeping timid silence” in the situation in South Ossetia. To his mind, Moscow expected humanitarian aid and “words of support”. Next day Lukashenka expressed condolences to victims, and yesterday evening 63 tons of humanitarian aid were delivered to Vladikavkaz from Belarus.

On August 13 at the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhei Sidorski tried to achieve lower price for gas I 2009 (Gazprom plans to raise it to $200 per 1,000 cubic metres), and a long-time loan of $2 bn. But talks on economic topics were postponed till the beginning of autumn.

The position of Belarus towards the conflict in South Ossetia caused the proposal to Alyaksandr Lukashenka to find agreement with Russian president Dmitry Medvedev first.

The meeting of the heads of the “union state” was exceptionally cold, and for the first time there were no journalists participating in it, the Russian “Kommersant” writes. The Russian side restricted itself to placing of the first minutes of the shorthand report of the meeting at the official website of the government. Instead of discussing economic problems, Syarhei Sidorski had to explain the position of Belarus towards the war of Russia in Georgia.

A week ago Lukashenka gave the Foreign Ministry a task to improve relations with the EU and the US. Against this background, the meeting of Medvedev and Lukashenka will be formal and cold, experts forecast. They believe that the key economic questions are to be discussed by Putin with Belarusian counterparts only in autumn.