President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the country does not refuse to fulfill the agreement on the creation of a Union State with Russia, including the introduction of a single currency. However, it should be "neutral."

“We do not refuse a single clause of this agreement. Even take the most serious that is being discussed today. Let's say a single currency. We are not against the single currency, but only it should be a neutral currency. This is not the Belarusian ruble, not the Russian one, ”Lukashenko said in an interview with the international television and radio broadcasting company Mir in Belarus.

According to him, the main issue that has yet to be resolved is the location of the emission center and its management.

The head of Belarus also noted that the main principle for Minsk in the process of creating the Union State with Russia is the equality of the parties.

“We are ready to follow this agreement, but the reinforced concrete principle is equal conditions for people, enterprises, and states. Now everything is broken, and the coronavirus has violated the last, and most important, equal conditions for people, ”Lukashenko emphasized.

Recall, April 2 was the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Russia and Belarus. Due to the threat of the spread of coronavirus, ceremonies on this occasion were canceled. As the representative of the Union State Secretary of State Elena Ovcharenko explained, usually a press conference, a solemn meeting and a concert are usually held on this day, but now none of this "will be for obvious reasons."

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At the same time, the heads of state exchanged congratulations. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Belarus. In the text, he noted that the two countries “managed to establish mutually beneficial integration mechanisms, significantly strengthen bilateral cooperation in trade, economic, scientific, technical, humanitarian and other fields.”

The President of Belarus, for his part, noted that at the moment the two countries are on the threshold of a new unifying stage. According to him, the beginning of the integration processes between the two countries has contributed to filling bilateral cooperation “with a deeper content, creating real advantages for effective economic and social development”.

“Integration on classical principles”

In his statements, Lukashenko repeatedly explained how he sees the process of creating the Union State of Belarus and Russia. At the end of February, he noted that Minsk “unequivocally stands for real integration on classical principles that the whole world knows.” Moreover, according to him, there should be no “compulsion to integrate”.

Lukashenko also pointed out that the principle of equality of participants in the union was laid at the heart of the integration process. As the head of Belarus noted, even during the presidency in Russia of Boris Yeltsin, Minsk initiated "real integration" of the economies of the two states while maintaining sovereignty and independence.

Recall that the agreement on the creation of the Union State between Russia and Belarus was signed on December 8, 1999 in Moscow. It was planned to create a single space in the political, economic, military, customs, currency, legal, humanitarian and cultural spheres.

In mid-February 2020, Lukashenko said that the parties agreed not to discuss the creation of supranational bodies, however, both countries continue to work on integration “road maps”. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that most of these documents have already been agreed upon, and work continues at some experts at the relevant ministries and departments of the two states.

Stumbling block

The heads of state emphasize that neither Moscow nor Minsk has a goal to unite Russia and Belarus in one country, but only to deepen their cooperation. Initially, both countries planned to adopt a program to strengthen integration on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the treaty establishing the Union State. But at the end of December 2019, the then Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Oreshkin said that "there are three groups of issues that block the final agreements." According to him, it is necessary to resolve differences in the oil, gas and tax spheres.

Moscow and Minsk managed to reach agreements in the field of fuel supply only in February 2020. Following the talks between Putin and Lukashenko, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, said that in 2020 Belarus would receive natural gas under the same conditions as in 2019, and oil would be supplied “on the same commercial basis”.

On April 2, Rumas announced that Belarus expects to receive 2 million tons of oil from Russia at a price of about $ 4 per barrel. Moreover, deliveries, according to the Belarusian prime minister, will be carried out without premiums.

“Today (April 2 - RT), I think Belneftekhim will finish negotiations with Russian companies on oil supplies for April,” said Rumas.