Kalinkina:"Bakiyev's son has ties with Berezovsky"
8- 21.04.2010, 10:43
Alyaksandr Lukashneka fears repetition of Kyrgyz events in Belarus and tries on Bakiyev's "suit", believes the "Narodnaya Volya" editorial director.
What political reasons can explain Alyaksandr Lukashenka's decision to offer asylum to Kurmanbek Bakiyev in Minsk? Is this step of official Minsk can really nager te Kremlin, or this scenatio could have been agreed upon by te sides? These questions of "Radio Svaboda" were answered by Svyatlana Kalinkina, the "Narodnaya Volya" editorial director.
- Alyaksandr Lukashenka rearly does something impractical. Usually politically rational reasons are concealed behind most emotional form. How could his behaviour in the Bakiyev's story be explained from this point of view?
- Firstly, it si obvios that his decision underlines independence of the Belarusian ruler, which is more and more insistently demonstrated by him recently in the relations to Russia and Europe. Secondly, I am sure that Lukashenka was greatly alarmed by Kyrgyz scenario, and especially the fact that Russia and the US had a common position to it. So I think the attempt to help Bakiyev is fitting on Bakiyev's suit on himself.
And thirdly, I remind that Bakiyev's son Maxim has big business in many countries, and he has business ties with Boris Berezovsky. Berezovsky had close ties with Bakiyev, and as Kyrgyz mass media write, he visited Kyrgyzstan many times. So I do not exclude that in this case there could be some request of Berezovsky, and he could comply with it.
- Do you share the opinion of some commenters that such Lukashenka's action can anger the Kremlin?
- I do not think that some clearly expressed displeasure of Moscow could follow, as in any case Bakiyev's fate was to be decided this way or another, he was to find asylum somewhere. I do not exclude even that this scenario could be agreed upon.
Anyway, all Lukashenka's statements in the "parliament" show that a hard bargaining is taking place between Minsk and Moscow, and Belarus does not have the trupms it prteviously had.
