On April 2, Alyaksandr Lukashenka gave an interview to the Mir TV and Radio Company in Belarus, press service of the President reports.
Answering the question of how he sees the development of the Union State, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said:
“We have an agreement on the establishment of the Union State. We are not rejecting any point of this agreement. Let’s take the most serious one, which is being discussed today. For example, the single currency. We are not against the single currency, but it should only be a neutral currency. It is neither the Belarusian ruble, nor the Russian one.
“And even I once said: fine, it’s not an issue what kind of currency it will be. The issue is where the emission center will be. And not even where, but who will manage the emission center. Will it be on an equal footing or, since Russia is a big country, will it manage its ruble, and we will liquidate ours and join them?” Lukashenka explained his position. “We’ve already been through this in the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. When we were simply thrown out of the ruble zone. And in the end, we stayed with the Soviet rubles, they introduced the Russian ruble, and then we drew “bunnies”. I don’t want it to repeat. This is first. And second, where will our sovereignty be then?”
He stressed once again that the Belarusian is not rejecting anything and recalled that the treaty provided for equal conditions for citizens, enterprises and the two states as a whole.
“If Russia today, having abandoned these imperial aspirations (we are big and you are small), is ready to do it, let’s negotiate, let’s decide,” said Lukashenka.
