Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, flew to Minsk on Thursday to offer Belarus about $3bn in loans over three years from the Eurasian Economic Community, in return for undertaking economic reforms and privatising state companies – which could see Russia take controlling stakes in strategic assets such as oil refineries and pipelines.
A year and a half ago, Putin said that economic preferences for Belarus would require political integration. I wonder what elements of control Moscow extracted for these loans?
No need for Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to be nervous at all, eh?
