DATE=12/25/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-243503
TITLE=RUSSIA / BELARUS (L ONLY)
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO:  THE PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA AND BELARUS HAVE AGREED TO MOVE 
CLOSER TOWARD A MERGER OF THEIR TWO FORMER SOVIET REPUBLICS, 
POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR.  BUT AS VOA'S PETER HEINLEIN 
REPORTS FROM MOSCOW, DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED MERGER ARE SKETCHY.

TEXT:  AT A KREMLIN CEREMONY FRIDAY, PRESIDENTS BORIS YELTSIN OF 
RUSSIA AND ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO OF BELARUS SAID THEY WERE TAKING 
A HISTORIC STEP ALONG THE PATH OF UNIFYING THEIR TWO COUNTRIES 
AND PEOPLES."

          ///YELTSIN ACT IN RUSSIAN, THEN FADE TO...///

MR. YELTSIN SAID "OUR COUNTRIES WILL ENTER THE 21ST CENTURY IN A 
NEW FORM, MOVING CONFIDENTLY TO A UNION OF COUNTRIES." HE ADDED 
"THIS FULLY REFLECTS THE DESIRES OF THE PEOPLES OF BOTH RUSSIA 
AND BELARUS."

BUT JUST WHAT THAT NEW FORM WILL BE IS A QUESTION THAT REMAINS 
UNANSWERED.

THE DECLARATION SIGNED FRIDAY CALLS FOR CREATION OF A UNION STATE
AT SOME UNSPECIFIED POINT IN THE FUTURE. A COMMON CURRENCY WOULD 
BE INTRODUCED, AND FOREIGN AND DEFENSE POLICIES ARE TO BE JOINED.
BUT THE DOCUMENT IS VAGUE IN MANY AREAS, AND STOPS WELL SHORT OF 
FULL POLITICAL UNIFICATION.  

(OPT) EACH COUNTRY WOULD MAINTAIN ITS SOVEREIGNTY, AND A JOINT 
STATEMENT ISSUED AFTER THE SIGNING CEREMONY WAS COUCHED IN 
GENERAL TERMS. IT SAYS ONLY THE DECLARATION "PAVES THE WAY FOR A 
UNION". IT NOTED AN AS-YET UNWRITTEN TREATY WOULD BE SUBMITTED 
FOR NATIONAL DEBATE BY THE MIDDLE OF NEXT YEAR." (END OPT)

KREMLIN SPOKESMAN DMITRY YAKUSHKIN LATER CAST DOUBT ON THE INTENT
OF THE YELTSIN-LUKASHENKO DECLARATION, SAYING "THERE CAN BE  NO  
TALK OF A SINGLE BUDGET, ARMY OR CURRENCY AT THIS POINT". HE SAID
"THE STAGES HAVE ONLY BEEN OUTLINED."

(OPT) RUSSIA AND BELARUS HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING INTEGRATION FOR 
YEARS. PRESIDENT LUKASHENKO HAS LONG SOUGHT TO JOIN HIS NATION OF
10 MILLION PEOPLE WITH RUSSIA'S 147-MILLION, SOMETHING THAT MIGHT
ALLOW HIM TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE COMBINED ENTITY.  RUSSIAN 
DEMOCRATS FIERCELY OPPOSE THE IDEA. THEY POINT TO THE 
AUTHORITARIAN MR. LUKASHENKO'S CRACKDOWN ON POLITICAL OPPOSITION 
AND FREE MEDIA. 

THE BELARUS LEADER ALSO SEES A MERGER AS A WAY TO EASE HIS 
COUNTRY'S CRITICAL ECONOMIC TROUBLES.  BELARUS HAS ALREADY HAD TO
RESORT TO FOOD RATIONING IN SOME REGIONS, AND ONE DOCUMENT SIGNED
FRIDAY ALLOWS GOODS TO MOVE FREELY ACROSS THE BORDER BETWEEN THE 
TWO COUNTRIES.  

THAT IMPORT AGREEMENT IS SEEN AS CRITICAL FOR BELARUS, WHICH 
DEPENDS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ON RUSSIA FOR CHEAP OIL AND GAS, AND 
HAS RUN UP A MASSIVE DEBT. (END OPT)

MANY RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR 
COUNTRY'S DEEPENING FINANCIAL TURMOIL, ARE SAID TO BE SKEPTICAL 
ABOUT THE VALUE OF A MERGER WITH EVEN POORER BELARUS. 

ONE OFFICIAL SAID FRIDAY'S DECLARATION IS MOSTLY SYMBOLIC, COMING
AS IT DID SEVEN YEARS TO THE DAY AFTER THEN SOVIET PRESIDENT 
MIKHAIL GORBACHEV DECLARED THE SOVIET UNION DEAD. (SIGNED)

NEB/PFH/KL

25-Dec-98 10:39 AM EST (1539 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.