Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says the West will suffer more than Belarus as a result of the flight restrictions and there will be no problems with Russian oil supplies in case of Western sanctions over the Ryanair incident
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st June, 2021) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says the West will suffer more than Belarus as a result of the flight restrictions and there will be no problems with Russian oil supplies in case of Western sanctions over the Ryanair incident.
On May 23, a flight by the Irish airline Ryanair from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land in Minsk over a bomb threat which later turned out to have been false. Among the passengers was Roman Protasevich, one of the founders of the Telegram channel Nexta, which was active during last year's post-election protests. The journalist was detained during the stopover. The incident provoked an outcry from Western politicians and officials. Later, the EU suspended the flights of Belarusian airplanes and recommended European carriers to avoid flights over Belarus. The West has also been pushing for new sanctions against Belarus. A response to the sanctions was among the key topics discussed by Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin at their recent meeting in Sochi.
"At the very least, we agreed that there would be no issues with oil supplies. It is profitable for Russia. We can process 22 and more million tonnes [metric tons] of oil," Lukashenko said on Tuesday, commenting on the situation.
The Belarusian leader said that contrary to some media reports, no shortages of oil products in Russia are expected.
"We have enough opportunities to close this deficit in Russia," Lukashenko said, adding that there will also be "no problems with oil supplies to the refineries of Belarus," "as with the supply of oil products both to the Russian market and to the foreign market."
Commenting on the flight restrictions introduced over the Ryanair incident, Lukashenko said that he discussed the issue with Putin in Sochi last week.
"... the [Belarusian] state budget will get a few pennies less due to the fact that they do not want to fly over our territory. Our shortages will be a lot less than what they will lose by bypassing our territory," Lukashenko said on Tuesday.
The Belarusian leader stressed that Moscow and Minsk are firmly determined to resist all the foreign attacks and are prepared to respond jointly to fresh Western sanctions.
