Lukashenko and Putin do not trust each other - political scientist Magda

Political scientist Yevhen Mahda stated this on Espreso.

"Actually, there are contradictions between Putin and Lukashenko. Lukashenko wants to get oil and gas at domestic Russian prices and supply Belarusian products to the Russian market, but at the same time remain at the head of a sovereign state," he said.

According to the political scientist, this is an interesting political maneuver, because it was Lukashenko who was the author of the idea of a union state.

"His calculation was simple - a young and energetic man thought he would lead Russia as well. And then instead of the old Yeltsin, a lieutenant colonel of the FSB appeared, who ruined everything for Lukashenko. This dispute, which has been going on for more than 20 years, very well illustrates the state of their relations. People can show that they are friends until death, but in reality this is not the case. They do not like each other and do not trust each other. Lukashenko understands that they will not be able to put pressure on him on the territory of Belarus as it would be the case in the Russian Federation," Mahda thinks.