Russia PM visited Belarus on July 17–18.
Arrests
The meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Belarus and Russian took place in Minsk on July 17. Dmitri Medvedev, the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, also participated in the meeting and did not miss the opportunity to talk to Belarusian President Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
Official Minsk was ardently waiting for the visit: the arrest of opposition activists is a vivid indicator of Belarusian authorities’ preparing for a high-rank event. Thus, it became known that Ivan Amielchanka, the author of memorable banner ‘MYCOPOK’ was held on July 17. However, he was not the only victim of preparations. A human rights defender Kasia Halickaja was held when she arrived at a Minsk court to observe the trial of two Young Front activists Uladzimier Jaromenka and Aliaksandr Vasiljeu who had been detained previously on that day.
Green activists also did not manage to escape punishment. On July 18, Iryna Sukhij, the chairperson of Belarusian environmental NGO EkaDom (Ecohome), was detained in Minsk and then fined. She also reported the coordinator of Belarusian anti-nuclear campaign Tacciana Novikava and a Russian nuclear physicist (and an anti-nuclear power plant activist) Andrei Azharovski were in remand cell. Mikhail Mackievich, a member of Legal Transformation Centre was detained together with Irina Sukhij near EkaDom office.
Formally, Mackievich and Sukhij were accused of using obscene language in public. However, their arrest is more probable to be the response to the anti-NPP building protest action performed in Astraviec on July 17 — on the day of Medvedev’s arrival.
The second day of the visit — July 18 — was also marked with the arrest of Belarusian LGBT activist Varvara Krasuckaja who was wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Release Alies Bialiacki’.
Hints
Dmitri Medvedev once again rubbed salt into Belarusian authorities’ wound touching upon the privatization of Belarusian state property, especially the issue of Belaruskali — one of world’s largest potassium fertilizers producers.
On July 17, Aliaksandr Lukashenka visited Belaruskali and stated he was not going to sell the enterprise for a song (Lukashenka has already set price for Belaruskali: first it was $30bln, then the price increased by $2bln). However — even in case of the privatization — Lukashenka claimed to retain the controlling interest of the enterprise.
The Russian PM, however, made a delicate hint saying at a press conference on the outcomes of the negotiations on July 18 that “it’s high time the decision on privatization of Belaruskali was made. There is no way out of this in any case.”
Dmitry Medvedev’s statement seems very reasonable and probable considering Russia’s trump card: Dmitry Medvedev promised to investigate Belarus’ giant increase of sales of thinners and solvents made from cheap Russian oil shipped to Belarus (however, some — as Russia ambassador Surikov — consider this solvents to actually be oil as Belarus has a right to sell them abroad without paying tax to Russia what cannot be done with Russian oil).
“We agreed to investigate everything carefully and to made necessary decisions. Even if the decisions will be difficult ones. If there are violations, the guilty persons must be punished and the economic interests must be restored,” Dmitri Medvedev concluded.
Belarus and Russian have also signed the general contract on the construction of Belarusian nuclear power plant at Astraviec. Russia is going to allocate $10bln loan for the construction purposes. The first power unit of the Astraviec NPP is expected to be finished and launched in 2017.
Circus
Medvedev — widely known as Russia’s most actively Internet using official — took a photo of Belarusian State Circus in a very humble and unpretentious way: from his cortege window and then uploaded it on his Twitter account.
Internet community started to discuss whether it is an another hint of Russia’s political elite on the situation in Belarus or Mr. Medvedev simply liked the building: the only rotunda in Belarus’ capital.
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