Shushkevich: Putin's imperial ambitions do not conform to the propriety

Pre-elective PR - that is how Belarusian politicians called the statement of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about "possible and very desirable" creation of the union state of Russia and Belarus.

Let us remind that the day before yesterday, responding to a question from one of the Youth Forum's participants "Seliger-2011" in the Tver region about the prospects of creating the union state with Belarus, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said: "It is a) possible and b) it is very desirable, and c) fully for 100% dependent on the will of the Belarusian people."


However, he acknowledged that "in Belarus there are different people with different views."

Belarusian president was not bypassed by Vladimir Putin as well, he noticed that "it is necessary to pay tribute to Alexander Lukashenko, he has been consistently moving towards integration with Russia and the creation of the union state."

Vladimir Putin didn't not bypass the Belarusian president, noting that "it is necessary to pay tribute to Alexander Lukashenko, he has been consistently moving towards integration with Russia and the creation of the union state."

The correspondent of news portal UDF.BY asked the Belarusian politicians to comment on the statement of Russian Prime Minister.

Anatoly Lebedko, the chairman of UCP:

- I consider this statement by Putin as the launched presidential campaign in Russia, part of which are the Duma elections. For Putin it is very important to show Russian electorate the success in the integration of the former Soviet Union. The creation of Customs Union will be presented as the foundation. But it is needed to move forward, at least at the level of declarations. Putin now deprives Lukashenko of prime integrator's function in post-Soviet space. Clearly, this will bring some extra points in Russia, where there are very strong nostalgic feelings about the past times. As for the statement in relation to Belarus, I think it is incorrect. The Russian Prime Minister, as well-informed man, can not fail to know that in according to public polls more than 90 percent of the citizens of Belarus respond negatively to the question: "Do you want Belarus to become the part of Russia?" respond negatively. I think this statement is not welcomed in Belarus and can cause someones' disappointment, and also someone's protest.


Viktor Ivashkevich, the co-chairman of the organizing committee of the National Assembly:

- I believe that the entry of Belarus into Russia is impossible, since the overwhelming majority of the Belarusian people are against such a scenario. So Putin's statement could be called the dream of Putin. Another thing is that the Prime Minister praised Lukashenko as the supporter of the integration. This suggests that Putin has decided to use Lukashenko on the eve of its presidential election. In my opinion by praising the President of Belarus, Putin has indirectly indicated, that he is fully satisfied with the current regime in Belarus.

-Stanislav Shushkevich, the former chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Belarus:

- The imperial ambitions of Putin somehow do not conform to the propriety. He must have the good understanding of who the Lukashenko is and what he does. And if it were not for Putin, this person who unlawfully occupies the position of President, at once would not exist anymore. Only because of the support of Russia he exist here.
But all these statements are needed to him (Putin - udf.by), as the pre-election PR. He must show that he treats Lukashenko in a different way than Medvedev. And it will allow him to gain some votes in Russia. I attribute this to the imperial ambitions of Putin, because he has no choice but to deal with ... It would be needed to deal with Russia, because if the two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty level in this country by European standards, it is necessary to deal with them. He specializes in international affairs. Although, where he can not say anything about international affairs, for example, about Iraq, he says that Medvedev deals with it. He is the sly, clever politician, the most influential politician in Russia. And he has great imperial ambitions. He wants to be the lord of Russia.

Pavel Severinets, the co-chairman of the organizing committee for creation the party "Belarusian Christian Democracy":

-This is the pre-election PR by the comrade Putin. In fact, the Belarusians do not want to Russia. Independence for 15 years has became the conscious fact, not only for the Belarusian elite, but also for ordinary Belarusians. All the social researches show it. Our response to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is: pursue your own internal Russian matters. You have enough problems out there...

The President of Belarus has not responded yet to the statements of Russian Prime Minister. From the officials' side only the Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh has reacted on Putin's cue. He said that there is no official comment in this regard, but he reminded the position of the Belarusian leadership. "Alexander Lukashenko said clearly that the national sovereignty - is the sacred thing for Belarus, it is not some kind of market conditions and even not the subject of negotiations", - passes the words of Savinykh "Radio Liberty".