The Prime Minister of Russia stated to the heads of governments of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan that no one is forcibly held in the Eurasian Economic Union, BNews.kz reports, quoting RBC.
Thanks to their participation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), some of its affiliated countries can purchase the Russian gas at reduced prices, Prime Minister of Russia Dmitri Medvedev told at the intergovernmental council meeting, encouraging the heads of governments of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kirgizstan to speak about it “directly, without accusations”.
«If some countries present here were not the part of our union, or, let’s imagine, withdrew from the composition of the union, they would currently purchase gas at European prices – around $200 for one thousand cubic meters. End of story. You should not prove anything and practice calculating. Everything would be much more expensive», Medvedev emphasized.
The Head of Government of Russia encouraged his colleagues to remember about the reduced gas price when taking decisions, slowing down or blocking the integration process in EAEU. He also highlighted the inadmissibility of transferring problems in bilateral relationships of separate participants of the EAEU to the relationships within the Union in general, comparing such approach with blackmail.
«Here nobody forcibly holds anybody”, Medvedev emphasized, noting that all EAEU participants entered it voluntarily, obtaining, as the result, «significant benefits on energy cooperation» and increasing the export volumes on the Russian market.
In early February 2017, the mass media reported that Belarus wants to withdraw from EAEU, CSTO and «possibly», from the allied states of Russia and Belarus. Later, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko called these rumors as the total «fiction».
The session of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council was held in Bishkek. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetian, Prime Minister of Belarus Andrei Kobiakov, Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Bakytzhan Sagintaev and Prime Minister of Kirgizstan Sooronbai Zheenbekov participated in it along with Dmitri Medvedev.
