President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has two trump cards left in a conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. They were named by the editor-in-chief of the radio station “Echo of Moscow” Alexei Venediktov, he is quoted as saying Telegram-channel “Said on Echo”.
Lukashenko’s first trump card in relations with Putin, according to Venediktov, is the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. “This is such a plus, a bonus to Putin. And the second [козырь] – this is the blocking of the transit of energy resources through the territory of Belarus from Russia to Europe. In fact, this is also a bonus to Putin, because then the importance of Nord Stream-2 will sharply increase, through which these energy resources, which Lukashenka can cut off, can go. Again Putin is in the black, ”he added.
The journalist believes that Lukashenka can still play these two aces, and when this happens, he will become uninteresting to Russia and Putin.
Earlier on December 1, it was reported that the President of Belarus confirmed his readiness to stop the transit of energy resources from Russia to Poland in the event of Warsaw closing the Polish-Belarusian border. He also called on the Polish side to “take your chicken brains and think that you are rattling.”
Prior to that, on November 30, Lukashenko announced that he would offer Putin to return nuclear weapons to Belarus on one condition – if similar NATO systems are in Poland. To a clarifying question about what systems in question, the head of state replied: “The nuclear weapons that will be most effective in such contact.”
#Venediktov #named #Lukashenkos #trump #cards #relations #Putin