Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk came to Miensk prior to Leonid Kuchma long planned visit. The Ukrainian President may well himself visit to partake of that country’s experience, as Belarus implemented the idea of a bicameral legislature quite some time ago, dividing power between the presidential and legislative branches. “Kuchma is trying on Lukashenka’s mustache,” ironically remarked one opposition newspaper.
Miensk, however, proposes Kyiv to pay the old bills first.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, receiving Tarasiuk with a heartfelt message from Kuchma, behaved in a manner befitting a political trailblazer. “Some have picked the idea that Belarus wants to survive at the expense of Russia and Ukraine. Untrue. Belarus is in a position to earn its own living,” the Belarus President declared.
After paying his traditional due to the neighborly and fraternal relations with the neighboring Slavic state, Lukashenka quickly got down to business. “Belarus and Ukraine must not have any problems remaining unsolved,” he told the Ukrainian envoy, adding that their bilateral relationships will rely on pragmatism.
Judging from this, he must have implied Ukraine’s debt dating from Soviet times, which the Belarusian side estimates at $217 million. Kyiv tries to avoid specific figures, implying, in turn, that even if Ukraine does owe Belarus, the amount is much smaller.
Miensk, without foreign investment and with a second consecutive bad harvest, intends to press the financial issue. The more so that Leonid Kuchma, visiting Miensk in late 1998, publicly promised that Ukraine would pay its debts — not with money but with sunflower oil and wheat flour. Nothing happened last year, except that Ukrainian-Belarusian trade turnover continued on a downward curve, dropping by one-third in the end, registering the 1998 level, alarming even at the time.
In addition, contrary to the agreement signed on a free economic area, Kyiv has imposed restriction on the exports of Belarusian light bulbs and synthetic fur. Should Mr. Kuchma prefer to travel to Belarus by train, dozens of toy vendors will besiege his car at the station of Zhlobin, waving monkeys and parrots made by the local fur factory that is in this fashion reportedly paying wages in kind.
