Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka continued his recent rhetorical rant against Russia in an interview yesterday with Reuters. Lukashenka described the price hikes of Russia's gas and oil as "barbaric actions" directed towards Belarusians who are "practically one and the same people" with Russians.Lukashenka repeated his hopes of an official political union with Russia but emphasized that Belarus will never be simply absorbed by the Russian state. "There are increasing imperial tones to Russian policy," remarked Lukashenka, "I believe that this aspect of the policy of the Russian leadership is dangerous...And the reason behind that is the huge funds coming into Russia from sales of oil, gas, and other natural resources. But it won't always be like that. Our time will come."
However, in the same interview Lukashenka rejected the calls from the West for increasing democratic freedoms in Belarus, thus making his new calls for cooperation from the E.U. sound very hollow indeed. "All the demands on Belarus on human rights and democratization, made at the instigation of the Americans, were tantamount to saying that we should dismantle our political system. And it is also understood throughout that the current president is illegitimate and should step down."
Lukashenka's claims that he does want "to sort out" relations with the West, but yet he blames the responsibility for the current chill on the travel ban on Belarusian officials imposed by the EU and the United States. According to Lukashenka, the opposition to his rule in Belarus is a group of "renegades" and mercenaries paid by the West.
