Lukashenka tries to blackmail Russia with military bases (Video)

• 25.04.2010, 15:09

It is worthy of note that reminding Medvedev about two Russian military bases, the Belarusian ruler was reading the text from notes.

“The Commander-In-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces seems to have forgotten that there are two operational bases in Belarus. I can remind: one of them is missile early warning base near Baranavichy, the other, near Vileika, provides communication with the Russian submarine fleet in the Atlantic Ocean,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka told journalists at a polling station in Minsk on Sunday, Interfax reports.

“If the president of Russian has forgotten about Baranavichy and Vileika, he has to remember it. If he wants to know how much Russia pays for them, I can say that unlike in Sevastopol, they pay zero: zero rubles, zero dollars,” Lukashenka stressed.

“The Belarusian army is the skeleton of the joint military grouping of Belarus-Russia “union state” and defends it. To be more precise, Russia has noting in the West expect for the Belarusian army,” the ruler emphasized.

Lukashenka noticed double standards and controversy in Russia’s position on receiving Kurmanbek Bakiyev in Belarus.

Lukashenka reminded the remarks of Vladimir Putin, then Russian president, regarding the Tulip revolution in Kyrgyzstan. He stressed that Putin said he was ready to receive deposed president of Kyrgyzstan Askar Akiyev.

In this connection, Lukashenka noted that Medvedev probably resented the fact that Bakiyev has chosen Belarus, not Russia. He also supposed that “Bakiyev probably had grounds to do this”.

Lukashenka thinks the CSTO’s future has no perspectives if the current situation is not changed.

“What kind of organization is it when in one of our countries blood is shed, a coup takes place? There is no response Why? It is easy to guess. If the CSTO goes like that in the future, I can assure you it has no prospects,” Lukashenka said.