The West and Russia.

Key excerpts from the interview.

“Everyone is waiting for next year’s presidential elections… West has halted all movement and is waiting for them… We expected more…The West doesn’t like our course and doesn’t like the current president — that’s all there is to it. Let’s be honest. But the president is elected by the people, not by the West. The sooner the West understands that, the faster we will build normal relations”.

“…recently the Russian leadership has wanted to build absolutely pragmatic relations with Belarus…Unilateral pragmatism, introducing duties on oil and oil products for one member of the Customs Union, Belarus, and not for another, Kazakhstan, smells like corruption at a minimum…”

Interview by Reuters May 4^th, 2010