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Belarus leader may snub Moscow security meet-report
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 13 - 06 - 2009


Belarus leader Alexander
Lukashenko may snub an ex-Soviet security pact meeting in Moscow
hosted by Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev over a milk export
row, Belarus' Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday, according to dpa.
Relations between the ex-Soviet allies have been strained by
Belarus' refusal to recognise Georgia's breakaway provinces of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.
Russia has banned on technical grounds the import of 1,200
types of milk product from Belarus, which earns billions of
dollars from its dairy exports, and last year had about 4
percent of the Russian market.
Lukashenko was due in Moscow on Sunday for the Collective
Security Treaty Organisation (ODKB) meeting, which unites
Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan.
"Belarus is seriously concerned over the introduction by one
of the ODKB countries of discriminatory trade restrictions
violating international agreements," the ministry said.
"Due to continuing uncertainty over this issue, the
Belarussian side has not yet taken a final decision with regards
to the participation of the official delegation ... in the ODKB
council meeting."
ODKB countries control a key land route from Europe to
Afghanistan and the organisation is often billed as a
counterweight to NATO. The Moscow meeting is due to discuss the
creation of a joint rapid reaction force.
Interfax news agency quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry
source as saying Belarus' attempt to link the milk row with the
ODKB meeting was "inappropriate".
On Saturday, Lukashenko asked officials to look into
reintroducing controls at the border with Russia. The two
countries have been striving for years to form a union state.
A row with Russia over gas supplies in 2006 was a prelude to
Lukashenko, long accused in the West of human rights violations
and rigging his re-election, taking steps towards a
reconciliation with the European Union.
Russia, the world's No.2 oil exporter and holder of the
third largest gold and forex reserves, has been trying to use
the economic crisis to tighten its grip on less wealthy
neighbours, largely dependent on trade with Russia.
Russia delayed giving Belarus a $500 million loan on grounds
that Belarus, whose manufacturing industry has been hit hard by
the crisis, could be insolvent by the end of the year, prompting
an angry response from Lukashenko.
However, Russia has said it will form a customs union with
Belarus and Kazakhstan next year and ditch its unilateral bid to
join the World Trade Organisation in favour of a joint bid.


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