Lukashenka: Putin organized a plot against Belarus
- 5.10.2009, 10:48
The Belarusian ruler presented unprecedented accusations against the Russian Prime Minister. The scandalous statement didn’t appear in news at first.
As Kommersant daily reports, Alyaksandr Lukashenka blames Vladimir Putin of hindering military cooperation between Russia and Belarus, pressing on Minsk and breaking integration processes in the “union state”.
Lukashenka made his harsh statement on Friday at a meeting with representatives of the Russian regional mass media. The remark of Lukashenka didn’t appear in news. However, the Belarusian TV showed an item about the meeting on Friday evening revealing all scandalous statements.
For example, the Belarusian ruler said it had been a personal decision of Putin to cut off gas. “Putin was flying to Kiev, when we had that conversation,” Lukashenka said. “He told me not to be nervous and promised to solve the situation. He phoned me in an hour and told he had to do this. I asked him not to do this, because this would lead to deterioration in Belarusian-Russian relations. This scar will remain forever. The conversation was hard, I hung up. The gas supplies were cut off that night.”
According to Lukashenka, Vladimir Putin organized a “gas plot” against Belarus in order to remove Belarusian competitors from the Russian market.
After that the Belarusian ruler, in fact, accused Putin of breaking up military cooperation between Russia and Belarus that, in his view, created a threat for the security of the two countries. He reminded the autumn 2007, when the Russian president had refused to visit the joint military exercise, and Lukashenka had to carry out the drills “alone”.
Lukashenka stated that Vladimir Putin hinders supplying “cheap and high-quality Belarusian goods to Russia” and rebukes the Belarusians of “price dumping, which causes losses of Russian agrarians.”
Lukashenka criticized especially harshly the “attempts of Putin to break integration processes between Russia and Belarus”. In his opinion, the current Russian PM blocks development of the “union state”, the agreement on which formation he had signed. “You’d better decide if you need it,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave advice to the Russian PM.
These statements of Lukashenka seem to be the harshest attack on Putin since the gas conflict in winter 2004, Russian mass media note. At the meeting with the government, broadcasted by the Belarusian television, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said: “If Putin wants us to pay this money, let's collect it by taking away medicines from the Chernobyl disaster cleanup troops and from those who were rotting in trenches. We’ll collect the money, and then they’ll stop manipulating and blackmailing us". He told the actions of the Kremlin were “a terroristic act on the highest level”.