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Belarus to stick to Union State agreement with Russia, Lukashenka says

Belarus will not move away from its agreement with Russia on the establishment of the Union State, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said in an interview with Reuters on May 4.

"We have signed a treaty with Russia on building a union state," the Belarusian leader said. "We won`t move away from this treaty even if Russia has a tendency to back away from what has been agreed."

Mr. Lukashenka stressed that the Union State should only develop on the principle of complete equality between both sides.

“Without such equality, there can be no such union,” he said. “But if we instill such a principle, then the union can develop. To be frank, we don’t have a union with equal rights.”

Mr. Lukashenka said that he enjoyed good personal relations with Russia`s President Dmitry Medvedev and its Prime Minister and former President Vladimir Putin.

But he criticized Moscow for increasing gas prices for Belarus and restricting access for Belarusian products, saying that Russia should have adopted a "more careful position."

"Economics form the basis of our relations," Mr. Lukashenka said. "If our economic relations are poor, you can’t expect relations to be any better in terms of politics." //BelaPAN