Russian oligarch persuades Lukashenko to submit
The oil conflict between Russia and Belarus can only be resolved by a personal meeting of the two presidents.
Senior analyst of the Alpari center Vadim Iosub stated this in a commentary to the Russian Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Previously, always, without exception, controversial issues between two countries on oil and gas were resolved at the level of two presidents, and not at the level of business entities, departments, ministries, deputy prime ministers and even prime ministers,” says Iosub.
According to Kommersant, “the tough position of all large Russian oil companies without exception and their decision to interrupt supplies to Belarus are associated with the instructions of the Russian leadership.”
The only oligarch who is allowed to supply small amounts of oil to Belarusian refineries is Mikhail Gutseriev. His enterprises even refused the bonuses due to suppliers; both parties did not disclose the price of supplies. This is due to the oligarch’s interest in the potassium region of Belarus, as well as in the supply of Belarusian oil products to Ukraine.
At the end of 2019, information was thrown into the Russian media about searches that allegedly took place in Gutseriev’s companies (the oligarch denied this stuff). According to conspiracy theorists, in this way he was forced to convince Alexander Lukashenko to finally sign the “road maps” for integration. Earlier, Lukashenko’s press secretary Natalya Eismont stated that the president “strictly trusts” this Russian partner.
Nevertheless, it is the supplies of Gutseriev’s enterprise (750 thousand tons) that allow Belarusian refineries to maintain minimum capacity. Belarusian media claim that the oligarch’s plane regularly flies to Minsk.
Yesterday, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov did not rule out that a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Belarus could take place in January.
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