DATE=12/25/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-243503
TITLE=RUSSIA / BELARUS (L ONLY)
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: THE PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA AND BELARUS HAVE AGREED TO MOVE
CLOSER TOWARD A MERGER OF THEIR TWO FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS,
POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR. BUT AS VOA'S PETER HEINLEIN
REPORTS FROM MOSCOW, DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED MERGER ARE SKETCHY.
TEXT: AT A KREMLIN CEREMONY FRIDAY, PRESIDENTS BORIS YELTSIN OF
RUSSIA AND ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO OF BELARUS SAID THEY WERE TAKING
A HISTORIC STEP ALONG THE PATH OF UNIFYING THEIR TWO COUNTRIES
AND PEOPLES."
///YELTSIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///
MR. YELTSIN SAID "OUR COUNTRIES WILL ENTER THE 21ST CENTURY IN A
NEW FORM, MOVING CONFIDENTLY TO A UNION OF COUNTRIES." HE ADDED
"THIS FULLY REFLECTS THE DESIRES OF THE PEOPLES OF BOTH RUSSIA
AND BELARUS."
BUT JUST WHAT THAT NEW FORM WILL BE IS A QUESTION THAT REMAINS
UNANSWERED.
THE DECLARATION SIGNED FRIDAY CALLS FOR CREATION OF A UNION STATE
AT SOME UNSPECIFIED POINT IN THE FUTURE. A COMMON CURRENCY WOULD
BE INTRODUCED, AND FOREIGN AND DEFENSE POLICIES ARE TO BE JOINED.
BUT THE DOCUMENT IS VAGUE IN MANY AREAS, AND STOPS WELL SHORT OF
FULL POLITICAL UNIFICATION.
(OPT) EACH COUNTRY WOULD MAINTAIN ITS SOVEREIGNTY, AND A JOINT
STATEMENT ISSUED AFTER THE SIGNING CEREMONY WAS COUCHED IN
GENERAL TERMS. IT SAYS ONLY THE DECLARATION "PAVES THE WAY FOR A
UNION". IT NOTED AN AS-YET UNWRITTEN TREATY WOULD BE SUBMITTED
FOR NATIONAL DEBATE BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT YEAR." (END OPT)
KREMLIN SPOKESMAN DMITRY YAKUSHKIN LATER CAST DOUBT ON THE INTENT
OF THE YELTSIN-LUKASHENKO DECLARATION, SAYING "THERE CAN BE NO
TALK OF A SINGLE BUDGET, ARMY OR CURRENCY AT THIS POINT". HE SAID
"THE STAGES HAVE ONLY BEEN OUTLINED."
(OPT) RUSSIA AND BELARUS HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING INTEGRATION FOR
YEARS. PRESIDENT LUKASHENKO HAS LONG SOUGHT TO JOIN HIS NATION OF
10 MILLION PEOPLE WITH RUSSIA'S 147-MILLION, SOMETHING THAT MIGHT
ALLOW HIM TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE COMBINED ENTITY. RUSSIAN
DEMOCRATS FIERCELY OPPOSE THE IDEA. THEY POINT TO THE
AUTHORITARIAN MR. LUKASHENKO'S CRACKDOWN ON POLITICAL OPPOSITION
AND FREE MEDIA.
THE BELARUS LEADER ALSO SEES A MERGER AS A WAY TO EASE HIS
COUNTRY'S CRITICAL ECONOMIC TROUBLES. BELARUS HAS ALREADY HAD TO
RESORT TO FOOD RATIONING IN SOME REGIONS, AND ONE DOCUMENT SIGNED
FRIDAY ALLOWS GOODS TO MOVE FREELY ACROSS THE BORDER BETWEEN THE
TWO COUNTRIES.
THAT IMPORT AGREEMENT IS SEEN AS CRITICAL FOR BELARUS, WHICH
DEPENDS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON RUSSIA FOR CHEAP OIL AND GAS, AND
HAS RUN UP A MASSIVE DEBT. (END OPT)
MANY RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR
COUNTRY'S DEEPENING FINANCIAL TURMOIL, ARE SAID TO BE SKEPTICAL
ABOUT THE VALUE OF A MERGER WITH EVEN POORER BELARUS.
ONE OFFICIAL SAID FRIDAY'S DECLARATION IS MOSTLY SYMBOLIC, COMING
AS IT DID SEVEN YEARS TO THE DAY AFTER THEN SOVIET PRESIDENT
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV DECLARED THE SOVIET UNION DEAD. (SIGNED)
NEB/PFH/KL
25-Dec-98 10:39 AM EST (1539 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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