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Lukashenko expects Russia to clarify attitude towards Belarus

"We don’t draw any conclusions, me included, till the talk with the Russian president,” Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MINSK, December 16. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday he expected Russia to clarify its attitude towards Belarus.

“Today we’re wary of the behavior of our eastern blood brother. But we don’t draw any conclusions, me included, till the talk with the Russian president,” Lukashenko said. “I’d like to know why the Russian Federation pursues such policy towards Belarus,” he added.

On December 3, Lukashenko said Russia "behaved improperly" in banning certain Belarusian food products from its market.

“The main thing is that Russia has violated all agreements reached in the (region's) Customs Union,” Lukashenko said. “It may be explained by some issues of security, terrorism or nuclear security. Everything can be invented and labels can be sewn on. But Belarusian products are well known and bought in Russia, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries," he added.

On November 30, Russia's agricultural control service imposed new transit rules for Belarus. Russian authorities said trucks destined for Kazakhstan were being illegally unloaded instead in Russia. The new regulations were imposed to close transit routes used to deliver frozen meat from Europe into Russia — products Moscow has banned in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine. Consignments must now be examined at Russian checkpoints before being allowed through.

The regional Eurasian Economic Commission has urged Russia's control service not to bar transits from Belarus and not to take restrictive measures against Belarus since “it does not meet the objectives of the Customs Union.”