Shushkevich: “By Russian money Lukashenka strengthened his dictatorship”

The former Belarusian leader comments on Putin’s statement.

“There is no help for free. It is obvious that this statement has been made now, and later Russian leaders would say: you should buy yourself en bloc. Lukashenka stated that he was the only friend of Russia, and all others are trash and enemies. And the day of reckoning for his “friendship” has come. 6 agreements on the “union state” have been signed, and now anything could be done with that. Belarus had been entangled in that slowly but surely. Lukashenka supported his dictatorship by Russian money; it was he not Belarus who received that aid. Now it’s time to recompense and pay by independency of the country,” the former Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus, the leaders of the Social Democratic Hramada Stanislau Shushkevich said in an interview to charter97.org website.

As for Lukashenka’s agreements with Russia, the politician said: “Russia should understand that Lukashenka is illegitimate president. All the civilized countries haven’t recognized the results of the elections in Belarus. Lukashenka had no right to order about independence of the country and sign “union” agreements. After democratic government’s coming to power, the relations with Russia would be developed properly. We should discern what a debt was and what a support to Lukashenka personally,” Shushkevich is convinced.

We remind that during an annual question-to-answer session with Russian citizens today, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s aid to Belarus would depend on the degree of political integration between the two countries in a “union state”.

“There are different ways of cooperation (between the two countries), but the Belarusian leadership wants to get more. It is possible, but I strongly believe this should depend on the degree of political integration between the two countries in a union state,” Putin said.

“The deeper this integration, the greater the possibility we can move to internal Russian prices, including prices of energy," the Russian PM stressed.