Belarus further attempts to trade security with Russia

Integration talks are stuck, even at this level, roadmaps are difficult to coordinate. So far, Belarus is ready to defend Russia from American troops by giving lip service.

Secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State Rapota gave a major interview to Izvestia newspaper last week, in which he noted that the “in-depth integration” process involving government groups yet was not associated with the integration within the Union State. The Union State Committee proposed to focus on the integration of infrastructure, reducing the trains’ transit time along the Russia-Belarus-Germany route.

The Supreme State Council of the Union State, the meeting of governments (the Council of Minister of the Union State) will be held in late November, yet it is unknown when and where the presidents will meet. So far, after meeting with Kudrin, Belarusian Prime Minister Rumas said that “it is not so easy to bring positions closer”, but the governments were working to present “what has been done” to the presidents.

At the October Economic Forum (KEF-2019), held on October 30^th – 31^st, National Bank head Kalaur reiterated that Belarus neither planned to introduce the Russian ruble nor the common currency, and Finance Minister Yarmalovich confirmed Belarus’ commitment to independent tax policy.

Meanwhile, the Union MPs have found out that the Union State budget was underspent, that union programmes, especially in industry, were unable to spend allocated funds for years.