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Lukashenka blames Russia for slow integration pace

Alyaksandr Lukashenka has blamed Moscow for a too slow pace of integration between Belarus and Russia.

“The principle of the countries’ equality probably was not acceptable for the Russian leadership,” the Belarusian leader said while speaking at Kyiv National University on November 5.

“But no one is going to start ruining the Union State. They needed to find the culprit and they named Lukashenka as the one. They proposed that a single currency should be introduced. But the house should be built starting from the foundation, not from the roof. A single constitution should be adopted first,” the presidential press office quoted him as saying.

Mr. Lukashenka acknowledged that cooperation with Russia had become more pragmatic recently but said that it was only natural. He reportedly described the Belarusian-Russian Union State as the “most advanced” integration organization formed by post-Soviet states.

The Belarusian leader stressed that Minsk viewed neighborly and mutually beneficial ties with Russia and the European Union as very important. He welcomed what he called the 27-nation bloc’s new, more balanced approach to relations with Belarus.

“I note particularly that we intend to assess this ‘window of opportunities’ opened for us according to the criterion of efficiency for Belarus, its practical benefits in the form of closer cooperation with the EU on projects offered by us,” he warned.

Belarus expects the EU to lift all of its sanctions against the country, abolish “discriminatory” restrictions in the spheres of visa issuance and trade and increase financial and technical assistance, the press office said with reference to Mr. Lukashenka. //BelaPAN