Medvedev forbid Lavrov to meet with Lukashenka

Experts believe that Sergei Lavrov’s visit is “the final warning of Moscow” to the Belarusian dictator.

As “Kommersant” writes, yesterday evening Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived to Minsk. Officially the aim of his visit is participation in the joint session of the Foreign Ministries of the two countries. According to the report of the Foreign Ministry of Belarus, Sergei Lavrov and his Belarusian counterpart Syarhei Martynau were “to discuss issues of relations with the European Union, the process of preparation to the OSCE summit” and “to exchange opinions on the key questions of Belarusian-Russian cooperation.” However the visit of the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry has special importance as it takes place less than a month before the presidential election in Belarus amid noticeable cooling of Moscow-Minsk relations.

Yesterday the spokesperson of the Belarusian president, Pavel Lyohki, told to “Kommersant” that “the meeting of Alyaksandr Lukashenka with the Foreign Minister of Russia has not been scheduled.” According to the newspaper, the decision of the Belarusian leader to ignore the visit of Russian Foreign Minister is obviously a demonstrative gesture, as previously he always met even with Russian governors who arrived to Minsk. Even though Sergei Lavrov stated before the arrival to Minsk that unlike his Western colleagues, he would not meet with leaders of the Belarusian opposition, has not helped.

Yaraslau Ramanchuk, President of the Scientific Research Mises Centre, has stated that such conduct “could backfire on Lukashenka, who feels fearless after contacts with the EU representatives.” As said by him, the visit of Sergei Lavrov is “the final Russia’s warning to Minsk.” “In fact, Moscow has not imposed serious sanctions against Belarus yet, and Belarusian goods are freely sold in Russia, and Russian energy resources are delivered to Belarus at most preferential prices,” the expert reminds. According to him, if Minsk continues anti-Russian escapades, he will face a real trade war with Russia.

On November 23 in the morning a report was made that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had not planned to meet with Alyaksandr Lukashenka during his visit to Minsk.

“A meeting had not been planned, Russian Foreign Ministry head had clear instructions of the Russian President about that,” a source from the Kremlin told to RIA Novosti.