SOCHI: Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko on Friday insisted on his country’s sovereignty following reports that Moscow is pressuring its smaller neighbour into closer integration.

Russian media has speculated in recent months that Moscow is seeking to establish a unified state with ex-Soviet Belarus.

A new “superstate” would require a new leader — potentially creating a powerful new position for Vladimir Putin when he reaches his constitutional limit as Russian president in 2024.

Lukashenko, who has been visiting Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi since Wednesday, stressed the importance of his country’s independence.

“Why would we bring up questions of the sovereignty of Russia and Belarus? It is like an icon, it is sacred,” Lukashenko told the press while standing next to Putin.

“We have no problems with sovereignty, we did not even discuss it in this context,” Lukashenko said.

But he also said the two countries were ready to “revise” their relations.

Putin said that “completely independent states do not exist” and that all countries are “interdependent.” In December, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was ready for closer integration with Belarus — including a common currency, shared customs services and courts — in line with a 1999 agreement to create a “union state.” Moscow denies talk of outright unification however. Russia is Belarus’s closest ally and the two have formed a nominal “union” with close trade and military cooperation. But the countries have bickered for years over a multitude of issues including energy prices and import duties. Moscow’s takeover of Crimea and support for separatists in Ukraine in 2014 sent shivers through Belarus.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2019