06.10.2008 Belarus, Minsk. Preparation for a meeting of Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Cleaners sweep a red carpet path.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Alexander Lukashenko Kept aside
// Meeting of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Supreme State Council called off
Another scandal broke out between Moscow and Minsk. This time at the highest level. Kommersant found out that a meeting of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Supreme State Council, planned to be held in Moscow today and where Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko was going to participate, was called off. The parties failed to come to an agreement regarding the development of the common state and shifted the meeting. The signing of the Russian-Belarusian agreement for the two countries’ combined air defense was postponed as well.
Kommersant learnt about the unexpected shifting of the Supreme State Council meeting from several departments responsible for its preparation. The Russian Presidential Executive Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Executive Office of the Union’s State Secretary Pavel Borodin replied to the inquiry of Kommersant with similar statements: Neither the Supreme State Council meeting, planned for Monday, nor Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s visit to Moscow will take place. "The Russian party was ready to hold the Supreme State Council meeting on December 1. The Belarusian party also declared ready. But then one of the parties suggested considering a number of vital issues, which require additional coordinating and shifting the time frames of the meeting,” Mr. Borodin’s press secretary Ivan Makushok told Kommersant. “Both Moscow and Minsk want to hold a really momentous meeting and to raise truly important questions there." Sources of Kommersant in the Kremlin were less wordy, "Nothing will take place. Neither the meeting nor the visit."
It is the second time a meeting of the Supreme State Council is called off. First it was planned to be held on November 3, but on October 25 the two presidents, Dmitry Medvedev and Alexander Lukashenko, met, and the Kremlin press service reported putting off the meeting till early December. The reasons for such a decision were not divulged.
Ahead of the present meeting both Russia and Belarus hinted in every possible way that it would become "a breakthrough in the history of the Union State." On Friday the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured Kommersant of Moscow’s absolute readiness to hold the Supreme State Council meeting. However, diplomats asked not to disclose its date. A high-ranking interlocutor of Kommersant with the Foreign Ministry said that during his stay in Moscow Alexander Lukashenko would sign at least one important document – an agreement for a joint air defense system of the Russian Federation and Belarus. According to the diplomat, its text was co-ordinated long ago.
The intrigue was stirred up by the Belarusian party too. "Our relations must be lifted to a new level till the end of the year. We should develop several or maybe one program, which would allow us to develop new relations," – Mr. Lukashenko declared in November. And after one of the recent meetings with the Belarusian leader, Pavel Borodin stated: "The meeting’s agenda has been altered and invigorated." The employees with Mr. Borodin’s agency worked hard the entire week-end, completing the preparation for Supreme State Council meeting and co-ordinating its agenda. And only on Sunday evening it became known that no meeting would take place. “It is unprecedented. I do not remember anything of that kind,” one of the officials responsible for preparing the cancelled meeting told Kommersant.
Apparently, the meeting’s agenda became the reason for shifting its time frames. According to interlocutors of Kommersant, close to the Belarus Government, during preliminary consultations it was decided that the parties would discuss such pivotal questions as the adoption of the Union State’s constitutional act and transition to a single currency. The Belarusian party mostly insisted on considering these issues. Late last week in an interview with AFP Alexander Lukashenko complained that many issues of the Union State’s development are not addressed because of the absence of the constitutional act. According to him, several drafts of this document were prepared, but what is offered by the Russian party "is much weaker than the current agreement for setting up the Union State." "Why disgrace ourselves at a referendum? Let then the current agreement function. We must have a true constitution or have none," Mr. Lukashenko stated.
The Belarusian leader did not specify which project annoyed him. However it is known that a year ago Mr. Borodin’s agency drafted three constitutional acts. According to two drafts, the head of the Union State is the President, and according to the third – the Head of the Supreme State Council. The first draft reads that the post of the Union’s President is occupied by the President of the Russian Federation, with the Belarusian leader being the Vice President. The second draft suggests that the Union’s President should be elected by the Russian and Belarusian peoples on the general vote basis, with the posts of the Vice Presidents occupied by the heads of the Russian Federation and Belarus ex officio. Finally, the third draft envisions that the Supreme State Council should be the main governing body, accountable to its chairman elected by general vote.
Anyway, Moscow will respond to the Belarusian party’s position. "Minsk’s statements are a lie. It tries to change a real negotiating process with a farce. Russia confirmed its desire to step up integration, but Belarus did nothing to support us," an interlocutor of Kommersant in the Kremlin said. As to the Supreme State Council meeting, according to the source of Kommersant with the Russian Presidential Executive Office, Moscow is ready to hold it whenever, "but provided that concrete decisions are made there."
Apart form the claims stated above, Russia is not going to abandon other issues. One of them was brought up last week by the Russian Ambassador in Minsk Alexander Surikov, who reminded the Belarusian Government about its promise to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "It was declared that the question of the recognition or non-recognition will be considered by the new Parliament of Belarus. Thereupon we are looking forward to the Parliament’s starting to consider it," the diplomat stated. It is remarkable that this reminder was made after Russia transferred $1 billion to Belarus out of the $2 billion credit pledged to Minsk. According to the information of Kommersant, the decision to allocate these funds was made with Mr. Lukashenko’s promise to recognize the Caucasian republics in mind. However, the Belarusian leader sent a clear message that he is not going to follow Moscow every time. "If we make a decision regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it will be our decision. I will not tolerate any pressure in this matter," Alexander Lukashenko said in the same interview with AFP.
Under such circumstances the Kremlin might have considered it untimely to receive the President of the Union State. Moreover, it is not ruled out that sanctions against Minsk may follow in the near future. On November 7 Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agricultural watchdog, issued a press release, where it noted that "the quality monitoring system of Belarusian dairy products cannot guarantee the safety of products supplied to Russia." It means that in the near future the import of Belarusian agricultural production to Russia may be prohibited.
Vladimir Solovyov
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 01, 2008
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