Moscow and Minsk were offered to move from the Union State to a union of states
You should not expect any high-profile steps following the last meeting of the presidents of Russia and Belarus in Sochi.
This opinion, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, was expressed in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets by the deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries, Vladimir Zharikhin.
“There was nothing to expect any radical statements or announcements after this meeting in the current situation - of course, everything there remained inside, one can only guess. And it’s clear why: now any active actions in terms of integration, a radical change in economic relations would not be timely, because there is a political crisis in Belarus,” Zharikhin said.
He noted that Putin has said in public speeches for the third time in recent weeks that Belarus needs constitutional reform.
“It is in such actions that he sees a way out of this crisis. After all, the military-political umbrella that Russia provided to Lukashenko does not solve internal Belarusian problems; to a certain extent, it only solves the problem of external influence on the situation in Belarus. But internal problems need to be solved by Belarus itself, including Lukashenko. And here it is very difficult for us to help him,” says the political scientist.
He is skeptical about the prospects for integration within the Union State.
“A union state will not work even technically - with such a ratio of the GDP of the two countries, the size of the population, how can we form a parliament, elect a union president, vote for the Constitutional Act? We have driven ourselves into the clutches of a union state, which is just a nice word and in fact impossible to implement,” says the expert.
“It seems to me that we need to move along the path of creating not a union state, but a close union of states, move to normal bilateral agreements - in the military-political, economic, cultural fields... If we write in the agreement: we give you oil and gas on preferential terms, and what do you get in exchange? If we recognize, gritting our teeth, knowing full well that this is bullshit, the presidential elections in Belarus - will you recognize Crimea in return? And this is exactly what Lukashenko does not want – obligations,” Zharikhin summed up.
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