04.12.2021, Moscow.
In response to the migration crisis and sanctions, Belarus will quite naturally strengthen ties with Russia and China, political analyst and senior lecturer of Moscow State University Artem Kosorukov said in a commentary for Rossa Primavera News Agency on December 4.
“Yes, it is a little bit more expensive and it takes longer to reach the destination, but it is reliable and stable, one can make a contract with the Russian ports for ten, fifteen or twenty years. This is more profitable than the trade via the Baltic States, where the governments are quite politicized,” the political scientist described the reorientation of the Belarusian economy as a possible response to the EU sanctions against Belarus due to the migration crisis.
This reorientation will be quite successful, the expert believes, and its first step could be the reorientation of oil refining exports to Russia, through the port in Ust-Luga.
Kosorukov noted that the second most important economic partner of Belarus is China, and since Belarus “in principle does not depend on either the EU or the United States,” then “in response to the migration crisis Belarus will quite naturally strengthen ties with Russia and China.”
The political analyst added that Belarus’ dependence on the dollar can be compensated by the creation of a unified currency with Russia.
The analyst emphasized that the Belarusian authorities are not to blame for the migration crisis, “They were not responsible for military operations in Iraq, Syria, and Libya.”
On December 2, the EU introduced the fifth package of sanctions against Belarus, comprising 11 entities and 17 individuals. The sanctions were supposedly adopted in connection with the migration crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, which Brussels considered a “hybrid attack” by Minsk.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
