Lukashenka: What did Medvedev want? Was it to wound me?

The Belarusian leader is puzzled why the president of Russia needed to give a press-conference to Belarusian mass media, including independent ones.

“I have looked through the verbatim records of Medvedev’s meeting with our journalists, and was convinced that it was a totally meaningless event,” the Belarusian ruler said, meeting with members of the CIS Council of heads of state news agencies, Interfax informs.

“They invited such reporters many of whom cannot stand Russians. I wish they could have consulted me before inviting,” Lukashenka said.

“They say it’s a symmetric response to Lukashenka’s meetings with Russian journalists,” the ruler said.

“We hold such meetings to tell the truth about us. Russia doesn’t know the life in Belarus at all, because the main channels do not cover the situation and if they do, you know how they do it. This is why I am forced to meet with Russian reporters,” explained the Belarusian head of state.

Speaking about the meeting of Belarusian journalists with the Russian president, Lukashenka noted: “I thought: what use could this meeting have? Is it done to annoy me? Well, I am calm about it because there have been enough pin-pricks. So I view it as an absolutely empty meeting, just a fact of the meeting had place,” the Belarusian leader said.

Commenting on the discussion of the Customs Union at the meeting with Medvedev, Lukashenka said that “we have told about that more here”. “The Union State? We honestly and sincerely talk about it, without various diplomatic conventions and so on. Some other issues, which have been discussed in Belarus quite thoroughly already, have been raised,” remarked Alexander Lukashenka. “So what was the meeting about? I am not saying whether it was necessary or not. Maybe it is alright for the Russian president, our best friend and the representative of the sister nation, should meet with them. But it seems to me such meetings should have some basis and should produce good consequences,” said Lukashenka.

At the meeting with members of the CIS Council of heads of state news agencies Lukashenka also noted that creation of the Customs Union is primarily aimed at reinforcement of positions of the Russian Federation.

“The Customs Union, which is to be created by us tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, is doubling, reinforcing positions of the Russian Federation. It is primarily powerful support for Russia, and we greatly hope that Belarus, Kazakhstan won’t stay at the background of this Customs Union,” he stated.

As said by him, “For us, the Customs Union is more of a hope that there would be an effect on the economy, then some success now”. ‘It is a hope, as in the form we approve it now, it still has n effect. It is a process. But as we want to find agreement, this process is not long,” Lukashenka said.

“We state that in half a year we would unify all the customs tariffs and would near the single economic space. That is the economic space, it is a success,” he said.

Lukashenka has also stated that recurrent trade problems in Belarusian-Russian relations are connected to the fact that Russia lags behind in the competition with Belarusian economy.

“All these milk, sugar wars with Russia, as mass media call them, they emerge not because Belarus pressed on Russia. The matter ism after modernization of manufacturing Russia is not a rival for us any more,” he said.