Putin invites Lukashenko to lunch for a private chat
Vladimir Putin has invited Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived recently in Moscow, to a meal without any delegations from the two countries, TASS reports.
“I propose this arrangement: we will listen to how our colleagues have been working, and then we will give the delegations another opportunity to talk, and then I want to invite you separately to a New Year’s work lunch,” Putin said.
When speaking about how Russia-Belarus relations have been developing in recent times, the Russian president said that Moscow and Minsk “have every reason to be satisfied”, since trade between the countries has been growing, and relations are developing “extremely successfully” in a variety of areas. “Both industry and agriculture – it is all on the rise,” Putin remarked.
The Russian leader also said that he is not surprised that “issues are emerging”, given the large degree of interaction between Russia and Belarus. “As a rule, they are in the energy sphere,” he noted. “Today I propose, even if we don’t make any final decisions, that we and you agree to listen to the sides together. Well, if we do reach an agreement, it will be great,” he resumed.
Lukashenko agreed that Moscow and Minsk “truly could come to terms” on all the problematic issues. Some of these disagreements are the result of certain global processes, he noted. “We are involved in the global process, and so the problems which are emerging in world trade, economics, politics and military matters affect us in one way or another,” the Belarusian president said. “Naturally, we would like to deal with these issues and not drag old problems into the new year,” he added.
At the start of December, during the Eurasian Economic Union summit in St. Petersburg, the two presidents argued over the price of gas for Belarusian consumers.
Lukashenko complained that his country could not compete with Russia due to the fact that gas costs $130 per thousand cubic meters for Belarusian consumers, but only $70 for Russians in the neighboring Smolensk province. In response, Putin said that if Russia were to supply Belarus with gas at market prices, Minsk would be buying gas at more than $200 per thousand cubic meters, and not at $127. The Russian president also suggested that they continue the discussion in private. The Kremlin later announced that the two leaders had agreed to meet before New Year to discuss certain matters of contention in bilateral relations.
After the summit, Lukashenko said that he intends to meet with Putin in December to set things strait. The Belarusian leader also said that he had apologized to Putin for the “heated” argument on gas prices during the summit.