Former Russian deputy prime minister, Boris Nemtsov, believes that conflict between Russia and Belarus is not in economic but in political sphere, and it is a conflict of personal nature between the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, and Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin. According to Boris Nemtsov, the boiling point "for Putin became Lukashenko's regular meetings with Berezovsky".
«Putin and Lukashenko are very similar. It is clear, that they hate each other. Everything has accumulated gradually: Lukashenko did not recognize North Ossetia and Abkhazia, refused to join the Customs Union for a long time. He is trying to import duty-free oil in the country — as a result, everything came to the boiling point. Putin is annoyed by the fact that Lukashenko considers Russia as a milk cow», Boris Nemtsov stated in a commentary to Ukrainian newspaper «Delo».
«The last straw for the surge of political hysterics, we see in Russia, were two events: Lukashenko’s regular meetings with Berezovsky, the main enemy of Putin, and Lukashenko’s demonstrative unwillingness to sign the agreement on the Customs Union», Boris Nemtsov said.
However, the leader of Russian opposition Solidarity movement believes that «Putin’s reaction is absolutely ridiculous, he has no strategy». «Putin can not influence the presidential election in Belarus, because he has helped Lukashenko to destroy the opposition during all these years. Putin has subsidized his economy, and this money were directed to support security services, to destroy the opposition, free mass media and so on», Boris Nemtsov noted.
«Today, the glade of political competition is protected in such manner that there is no person, who could be contrast with Lukashenko. The hatred will remain, but there will no candidate. Belarus is not Ukraine. There (in Belarus) is such a management system that any insubordination means either dismissal or imprisonment», the former vice-premier of Russia said.
In conclusion, Boris Nemtsov said: «I think that after the next presidential elections (in Belarus), authoritarian leaders (Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin) will not be able to agree about anything, because an agreement means a compromise. Neither one nor another are able to dot that».
