DATE=12/8/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / BELARUS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256966
BYLINE=CHARLES MAYNES
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: After months of negotiations and delay, the
leaders of Russia and Belarus have signed a treaty
committing the two former Soviet republics to merge
into a confederate state. Charles Maynes reports from
Moscow.
TEXT: When the signing ceremony was postponed a few-
weeks ago because of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's
ill health, many speculated Russia was becoming less
enthusiastic about the proposed merger.
But it was a cheerful looking President Yeltsin who
greeted his Belarussian counterpart, Alexander
Lukashenko, to the Kremlin and hailed the union treaty
an epoch-making moment.
/// YELTSIN ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Yeltsin said the agreement is in the best
interests of both Russia and Belarus, and is based on
the goodwill and equal sovereignty of both countries.
President Lukashenko called the treaty, in his words -
- a moral restoration of justice -- coming eight-years
to the day Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus signed a
treaty which led to the collapse of the Soviet Union
just weeks later.
But despite the pomp and ceremony, the treaty is far
from establishing true integration of the two former
Soviet republics. The agreement -- which calls for
joint institutions and a common currency by the year
2005 -- offers little beyond what already exists in
previous cooperation treaties.
That was a point acknowledged by the Belarussian
president who had harshly criticized the draft union
treaty when it was first published in October. The
agreement, Mr. Lukashenko said, is -- only the
beginning. (SIGNED)
NEB/CM/JWH/ENE/RAE
08-Dec-1999 09:45 AM EDT (08-Dec-1999 1445 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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