To spite the Kremlin, Belarus is ready to fall under American vassals
Against the backdrop of difficult negotiations between Russia and Belarus on oil and gas, as well as sabotage by the Belarusian side of the integration of the two states, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the faithful US ally Lithuania, Linas Linkevicius, arrived in Minsk for a three-day visit.
“It is time for more intensive relationships, contacts and open conversation, because despite all the positive examples, there are also disagreements,” Linkevičius said.
The main “disagreement” in relations between the two countries is the hysterical protests of Vilnius against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Ostrovets - using Russian technologies and financed by a Russian loan, which will generate 18 billion kWh of electricity annually. In the public sphere, Lithuania operates with arguments about environmental safety, but in reality, behind these escapades there is a very specific economic interest.
Back in 2016, this Baltic republic was going to build its Visaginas nuclear power plant instead of the Soviet Ignalina nuclear power plant, which the Lithuanian authorities stopped in 2009 at the request of the European Union. However, American investors did not provide the promised funds for construction. As a result, Lithuania’s closest allies Latvia and Estonia are already treacherously ready to purchase electricity from the new Belarusian nuclear power plant.
All the more surprising are the statements of the Westerner and nationalist Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Vladimir Makei, about his readiness to make concessions on issues of “environmental safety.”
A delegation of representatives of the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group (ENSREG) and the European Commission is expected to visit Belarus in March.
“We are ready to receive them at any time. All recommendations made by our partners will be carefully taken into account. If the Lithuanian side has concerns, then? we must sit down at the negotiating table and go through these concerns, discuss them and develop measures that will resolve these national tensions,” Makei said at a meeting with Linkevičius.
He said that the launch of the first power unit of the Bel NPP has been postponed indefinitely.
“I cannot say exactly when the station will be launched. Due to various reasons, the launch of the first power unit had to be postponed,” the official said.
As a reciprocal gesture, Lithuania proposes to intensively use its infrastructure to establish regular supplies of alternative oil and gas to Russian ones. This dubious service also implies economic benefit for only one of the parties: Lithuania will load its ports. As for Belarus, the first purchase of alternative oil from Norway cost it $130 per ton more and allowed the port in Klaipeda to earn money.
Vladimir Makei said that his negotiations with Linkevičius laid the foundation for the beginning of “a new qualitative period in bilateral relations.” And it’s hard to disagree with this: Belarus has never given up its interests like this before. At the same time, the Lithuanian diplomat expressed hope for the formation in the future of the “Baltic-Black Sea Union”, which would unite the Baltic states, Poland and Belarus.
In the meantime, Makei places special hopes on the development of humanitarian contacts with Lithuania. He especially thanked Linkevicius for the creation of a gymnasium named after Francysk Skaryna in Vilnius with instruction in the Belarusian language, where 230 students are currently receiving education.
“Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and the United States belong to different economic, political, and military blocs. But we must always remain partners. We have no alternative. And today I would like to emphasize that in the development of our relations both with neighboring Lithuania and Poland, and with the United States, we are based on a mutual intention to move forward,” Makei said.
He especially emphasized the historical connection between Belarus and Lithuania within the framework of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, formed after the conquest of the Principality of Polotsk by the Lithuanian princes in the XNUMXth century.
Diplomats, together with their American colleagues, celebrated the anniversary of the birth of the organizer of the anti-Russian uprising. Tadeusha Kosciuszko. Linkevičius remembered another fighter against Russia, Vincent Kalinowski, whose reburial in Vilnius last year turned into a manifestation of the pro-Western Belarusian opposition.
It is planned to hold a Belarusian-Lithuanian forum in Klaipeda in May.
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