On Merkel’s statements, the conflict in Ukraine and gas prices

The President of Belarus answered questions from Russian journalists on the sidelines of the summit in Bishkek

One of the questions concerned the recent statements of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The essence of her statements boils down to the fact that she considered the peace talks in Minsk and the agreements concluded in the Belarusian capital to resolve the situation in Ukraine as an opportunity to give Kiev time to build up its power and military resources. However, as analysts note, her current statements have no basis — this is pure bluff. Frau Merkel’s behaviour today is simply vile.
Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on these revelations in the following way, “I told Vladimir Putin what I thought about it. If things were really like that, it is disgusting. 

But they were not like that.

The real situation is not just disgusting, it is abominable… I didn’t expect it either. And the President of Russia said the same: he didn’t expect such an attack from Angela Merkel. 

She acted in petty, obnoxious way. She wants to be in trend. Back then Merkel, like others, including Poroshenko, was very serious about the Minsk agreements. Indeed, after the Minsk meetings, the whole world was saying that finally this step was made and these agreements were signed. The war stopped, people stopped dying. All this was positively assessed.”

Photo by BELTA

The President of Belarus is sure that it is not as simple as it sounds now in the statements by Angela Merkel and Petro Poroshenko, “Today, at the background of the ongoing developments they are saying that she, Poroshenko, this Hollande [France’s former President François Hollande] whom she led by the hand in front of me allegedly carried out a secret operation, deceived everyone, primarily Russia, Putin, and everyone in the world. They got a pause that let the Ukrainian army prepare for this war... If this were so, it would be too easy. They cheated, prepared for the war and are fighting now. Well, if this is so (this is not so), why then rant and rave now about the war going on? You got what you were preparing for.”
The Head of State shared that a war on Russia was supposed to begin from the Donbass in 2021-2022, 

“We know for sure (I informed President Putin that we will make these facts public soon) that they were going to advance NATO troops to the border of Smolensk Region after the 2020 coup in Belarus and start a war against Russia from the Donbass.”

According to him, the war was supposed to begin under the pretext of Russia’s seizing of foreign territories, “From there, the war was supposed to start in 2021, maybe 2022. Russia foiled their plans and acted preemptively. Therefore, Russia does not deserve the accusations. We all read the statements by Poroshenko, Merkel [former leaders of Ukraine and Germany]. They are lying that it was Russia who started the war. They — Merkel and Poroshenko — want to show their importance. Furthermore, they want to say that the Ukrainian army is fighting, resisting one of the strongest armies in the world because they had deceived everyone, the whole world and Russia in Minsk. It is petty and deplorable. It doesn’t look like Merkel. Likewise, it is not true that they did this in order to cheat. Everything was serious.”
The President believes that had the Minsk agreements been implemented, Ukraine would have been integral and there would have been no war, 

“By today, if they had gone the way that Putin proposed, and an agreement had been signed, Ukraine would have retained its integrity except for Crimea. There would have been no war.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that at that time he forwarded information, wishes and demands from President of Russia Vladimir Putin to the then leader of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and vice versa, “I once said that the last message that Putin conveyed to Poroshenko was the offer to help restore what was destroyed. And the destruction was minimal. But they did not agree to this. They were preparing for war. But then no one thought so, as Merkel and Poroshenko say today. If they cheated in order to prepare for war, this is disgusting. 

And what Merkel is saying today, echoing Poroshenko is disgusting. This is a kind of trend. And they are trying to follow it. Secondly, Merkel does not want to be blamed for the ongoing developments in Ukraine as people would say that she was there with Hollande, represented Europe, and pushed Ukraine in the wrong direction. She starts making excuses. 

Once again I emphasise that this is vile and disgraceful. It would be better for her to keep a low profile. By doing it, she cancelled everything that she had done for Germany and the European Union. And we took her seriously. And Russia took her seriously. But, as you can see, we were wrong. She turned out to be as petty as all the leaders of Europe today.”
The journalists asked whether the Belarusian leader discussed matters concerning specific territories in a conversation with Vladimir Putin, in particular, Kherson, Lugansk, Donetsk, and Zaporozhye. 
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised that during meetings with the Russian President, the focus was always on the need to negotiate to end the conflict in Ukraine, “We’ve always talked about a treaty, about stopping the war, about ending the war. All in all, we’ve always talked about it. If you remember my statements and his that Zelenskyy is simply not allowed to do it. We’ve talked along these lines. But we’ve never discussed specific territories: Kherson, Lugansk, Donetsk, and so on, who should liberate whom…”
If the President of Ukraine demands that Russia withdraw from the territories of Kherson, Zaporozhye, Lugansk, Donetsk today, this means that there will be no negotiations, Aleksandr Lukashenko is sure, “This is a precondition that is unacceptable for Russia. At this stage, in my opinion, Russia will not accept these conditions at all: leave Zaporozhye, Kherson and so on. It is impossible to put forward such demands to the Russian Federation. For many reasons. 

If you want peace, you need to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss all issues in silence: who should leave what — either Russia or Ukraine. If there are no such steps, then it means they do not want these negotiations and conversations.”

Media representatives also asked about the progress of negotiations on the formation of a single gas market. The President noted that gas and energy issues were also raised at the EAEU summit. All parties expressed their position. Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that he and the Russian President had agreed to meet in the near future to discuss economic issues, “We agreed to discuss security issues, but most importantly, economic matters. We are set to discuss the energy issue at our next meeting.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that in 2025 the EAEU partners should enter these single energy markets, including the gas one, “We have agreed to do it step by step, we are not capable of more. As it turns out, it is not only Russia who is not ready for such drastic moves. Almost all the countries that produce or buy, for example, gas are not ready for that today. That is why we have agreed to address the relevant issues on a bilateral format at this stage. Since the market is to be launched in 2025, let us settle this matter on a bilateral basis. We agreed on this at the one-on-one meeting [of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council].”
In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko said that the main thing is the price of the Russian gas and whether it is comfortable for Belarus, 

“The question is not about the prices in our countries. The question is about equal opportunities that economic entities should have since we have opted for deep co-operation with Russia (because of the global crisis, wars, pandemic and so on).”

The President cited an example of greenhouse farming, where energy accounts for a large share of production costs, “If the gas price for you is $60 or $80, and $120 for us at the border, what equal conditions can we talk about here? I will not be able to sell my goods on your market. Even if I can, I will have to cut salaries and so on to be able to compete in price. The main thing is a level playing field. Let gas be at $1,600, like in Europe, God forbid it, of course. But the price should be the same in Russia and in Belarus. This is important for us. Well, we will reach an agreement anyway.”
The Head of State was asked why the countries had stopped using U.S. dollars in mutual transactions. The President remarked the decision had been prompted by circumstances, and it had been a forced step. However, Aleksandr Lukashenko said he sees no problems with it, “When we were forced to do it, I said it is okay, we are satisfied with Russian rubles.”
Moreover, Belarus was the country to initiate the transition to Russian rubles in trade in energy resources, the President reminded, “If you remember, we had suggested using Russian rubles in Belarus-Russia trade. But Russia had preferred U.S. dollars. And we had to earn these dollars no one knows where and pay for oil and gas with them afterwards. 

We are now satisfied with the state of transactions in Russian rubles.”

Based on materials from sb.by and belta.by