Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed to create a joint Parliament and government as part of the Union State.
"The presidents agreed that the stated goals are ambitious, and they should not change. These goals include the transition to unified tax legislation, the creation of common markets for oil, gas, and electricity, the creation of a single Parliament and government with executive authority when independent Russia and Belarus give up certain governing functions. This task is now being solved," said Semashko, as cited by Reformation news outlet.
According to Semashko, now the roadmaps for integration into the Union state are being developed. 20 of the 31 road maps have already been agreed upon. Other roadmaps should be ready within one week.
The Union State is a supranational union of Russia and Belarus with the organization of a single political, economic, military, customs, currency, legal, humanitarian, and cultural space.
Basically the presidents of both countries agreed to finally form the “union state” which has technically been in effect for 20 years, but this is the first time both countries jointly agreed to form the united parliament. This is suspicious since Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s entire geopolitical game was balancing the West with Russia, but after recent talks with Putin, he suddenly changed his mind and agreed to go ahead with the union state. So NSG, what do you think is Putin’s endgame?
I think this is Putin’s next card up his sleeve to create a wannabe USSR. Putin surged in domestic popularity after the annexation of Crimea, but his popularity has been declining ever since. He’s expected to surge in popularity again and likely win the next presidential elections fair and square with this move, so this is also a move to stay in power for him IMO.