Even Tikhanovskaya will not stop Lukashenko from selling fuel to Ukraine
Imports of petroleum products by Ukraine from January to September 2022 amounted to $6,14 billion, which is 72,1% more than in 2021. The share of Russia is 11,2%, Belarus – 9,6%.
This was reported by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Düsseldorf historian Alexander Friedman believes that Belarusian supplies are quite likely.
“Theoretically, nothing can be ruled out. We know that gas transit through Ukrainian territory continues during the war. The war does not affect transit on either side. War is war, and business is business. I wouldn't rule this information out 100%. From Kyiv’s point of view, when the country really needs this fuel, and it can get it from Belarus, I don’t see why they would refuse it. They are acting pragmatically in this war. Of course, there are loud statements when necessary, but pragmatism is present.
When it is possible to get fuel, then why not. It’s interesting why the Lukashenko regime continues to do this and at the same time continues to be Russia’s main partner. But there is still no big sensation. We know that in the current conditions, Lukashenko is looking for every opportunity to earn something. The economic situation in Belarus forces him to do this,” Friedman said on Euroradio.
He believes that Ukraine’s trade with Belarus will not stop even in the event of a meeting between President Vladimir Zelensky and the self-proclaimed “leader of the Belarusian nation” Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, to which Kyiv has not yet agreed.
“Suppose Zelensky invited Tikhanovskaya, met and made some loud statements in support. Will this change Lukashenko’s position when he is considering the opportunity to make money and needs money? There is no need to exaggerate his ideological nature. Well, there will be loud statements in Belarusian propaganda, but what will fundamentally change? I think nothing. I don’t think that Kyiv is not trying to improve relations with Tikhanovskaya because it is afraid of offending Lukashenko. This is due to the fact that Kyiv believes that Tikhanovskaya’s influence on Belarusian society is small, and this meeting will bring nothing to Zelensky in relations with Belarus,” Friedman said.
But the fact of trade outraged Ukrainian lawyer Tatyana Montyan.
“The fact that the Saloreichites, who demand that the whole world impose an embargo on the supply of Russian petroleum products, are now themselves purchasing aggressive Russian gasoline and diesel fuel is not very strange. Not for the first time, as they say. But why Russia and Belarus supply the Saloreik people with fuel for war and at the same time turn off electricity in the cities is a question of questions!” Montyan wrote in her TG channel.
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