Russian MP: Watch out, Lukashenko, you could end up like Gaddafi!

© Reuters/BelTa/ Nikolai Petrov

Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko (R) meets Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

A senior Russian lawmaker has warned Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko against détente with the US, warning him he could end like Libya's Gaddafi.

"Milosevic, Gaddafi and Hussein all tried to be friends with the United States. Their fates are well known. Now the US is offering 'new relations' with Lukashenko. This is a dangerous experiment," the head of the State Duma Foreign Relations Committee Aleksey Pushkov wrote in a Twitter post on Monday.

The comment came soon after US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland talked about a small improvement of US-Belarus relations, adding that the country was always open to more dialogue with Belarus.

On Sunday Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko. He described the two countries as "neighbors and relatives" and pledged to do anything Poroshenko asked in just a day.

Lukashenko has said the Belarus people "should stop praying for Russia alone," and ordered the government to find new markets for Belarusian products. It's all part of the response to the short-term restrictions imposed on Belarus foodstuff imports by the Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, and also on the rapid devaluation of Russian ruble that prompted the two countries to introduce additional mechanisms to calculate the price of Belarus imports.

Also on Monday an aide to the Russian President, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Vladimir Putin could discuss the urgent problems with Aleksandr Lukashenko on Tuesday, during the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union summits being held in Moscow. "There is no agreement on a separate meeting, but during the Tuesday events the Russian and Belarus presidents will certainly have an opportunity to discuss the most acute and urgent topics," the TASS agency quoted Ushakov as saying.

He added that the two leaders could also agree on a dedicated summit sometime in the near future.

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