OREANDA-NEWS. Belarus sees its union with Russia only as the union of equal states, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview to Reuters on May 4.

“We see this union only as the union of equal states. The main principle of any union is equality. There is no union without it. If the union is based on this principle, it will be developing. It will grow as strong as the peoples want it to be, first of all, the people of the Russian Federation. I would not say that we have got such an equal union. We need to go a long way in this direction, Alexander Lukashenko said.

Yet, a lot has been done, the President said. In fact, the Russians and Belarusians do not feel they live in different states. The legal framework has been developed in education, healthcare, economy and other areas. However, there are certain problems. “The Russian Federation has been overusing protectionist measures. In fact, it blocks supplies from the republics of the formers Soviet Union including from Belarus to the Russian market under all kinds of excuses, the President said.

“We have close friendly and legal relations with the Russian Federation. We have signed the union state treaty with Russia and will not depart from this treaty even if Russia keeps on violating the agreements we have signed Alexander Lukashenko also said that

For example, Russia has withdrawn from the treaty on equal conditions for the economic entities of the two countries. “If we build the Union State, then what difference is there between companies of Russia and Belarus? There should be none. We should have free movement of goods, services, capital. The prices should be based on the demand and supply principle. Russia has withdrawn from the treaty, has compromised the principles of equal prices for our companies. This undermines the basis of the Union State. We have customs-free space. Yet, Russia has imposed oil duties. This, of course, does not promote the unity,” Alexander Lukashenko said.

The President said: “I think it would be better if the Russian Federation pursued a more coherent and correct policy towards the Belarusian economy. If we have bad relations in the economy, we will not have good relations in politics, defense and other areas either”.

As for the dialogue between the presidents of Belarus and Russia, the efficiency of addressing various issues, taking important decisions, the progress is evident. “The implementation, though, leaves much to be desired,” the President said. “We have no problems with the Russian authorities at the interpersonal level,” he added.

As for the relations with Europe, Alexander Lukashenko noted: “Belarus may become a member of the European Union some day in the future. We have not thought about it yet and even have not been offered such variants. Therefore, it is somewhat awkward to discuss this issue,” he said.