Minsk, Oct. 7 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said the country is not ready to privatize Belarusian oil refineries with the involvement of Russian oil companies.
"Today our plants rely on Russian oil, they get it by ‘pipe’, and it would be logical if Russian companies took part in their privatization. But we are not prepared today to do that on the terms they are offering us," Lukashenko said at a Friday press conference for Russian journalists in Minsk.
Russian oil company Slavneft now has a 42.58% stake in Mozyr Oil Refinery’s charter capital, Lukashenko noted. At the beginning of this decade, "6% of the stock in Mozyr Oil Refinery was stolen" by means of complicated financial schemes with Russian companies involved, he said.
"Those shares have still not been found, we don’t know where they are," Lukashenko said. At the time, he said, the country’s leadership decided to "nationalize all the stock that was in the hands of private individuals."
"And when there was talk about privatizing Naftan with the involvement of Russian companies, we thought hard and decided that, probably, that ought not be done," the president said.
Lukashenko said he considers that the position of Russian business – privatization deals with stock in Belarusian companies on the basis of certain agreements and not on honest and open business terms – is not a correct position.
