Lukashenko claims that Putin has made concessions
Russia is ready to compensate Belarus for the loss of the tax maneuver in the Russian Federation, which Minsk has long insisted on.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated this today, commenting on his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Vladimir Putin proposed a formula to calculate how much we will lose from the reduction of customs duties in 2020 to the level of last year. If last year we received $1 billion from the duty, let’s say, and this year by reducing this very duty (it is decreasing all the time), we will receive, say, $700 million. He said: we will compensate $300 million. Including through bonuses to companies. Such a proposal. This is at least some way to resolve those disputes,” Lukashenko said.
However, he did not say that he happily accepted the concession after several months of difficult negotiations. The Belarusian government intends to “cheat” whether the amount offered is enough for it.
“Of course, now (this was an unexpected proposal) we are trying to shortchange it. But that probably doesn't matter. Because the product is Russian. Russia can sell it at fair prices, or it can sell it at unfair prices. Because it's a monopolist. We did not receive oil from anyone else. The same thing applies to gas,” Lukashenko said.
At the same time, the official Kremlin website dryly reports only on the fact of the telephone conversation between the presidents.
“In continuation of the Russian-Belarusian summit talks on February 7 in Sochi, some topical issues of the development of bilateral relations were discussed. Particular attention is paid to interaction in the energy sector and the implementation of major joint projects,” the statement says.
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