Moscow, Dec 26 (AP) A tightly scheduled meeting of the Russia-dominated economic alliance of several ex-Soviet countries briefly went awry Thursday when two leaders argued during a live broadcast of the event.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and other heads of state attended the meeting of the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has increasingly sought to reduce his country's ties with Moscow and forge closer relations with the West, joined the meeting via video link after canceling his trip after testing positive for COVID -19.
The carefully choreographed session at a resort near St. Petersburg deviated when Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whose country assumed the rotating chairmanship of the economic grouping from Armenia, urged Pashinyan to visit Belarus for the next meeting of the union.
Pashinyan replied that he plans to attend the Belarusian meeting via video call, after which Lukashenko pressed for explanations and even offered to send a plane to fly the Armenian delegation to the Belarusian capital.
Pashinyan then pointed to his previous decision to freeze high-level visits to Belarus over Lukashenko's support for Armenian rival Azerbaijan.
“I don't think this is the right format to discuss these issues,” Pashinyan added.
But Lukashenko continued to argue and Pashinyan snapped back. Putin, who sat next to Lukashenko, and other leaders watched the altercation in stony silence.
The Eurasian Economic Union was founded a decade ago to encourage stronger business ties and facilitate trade among its members, but has been marred by economic and other disputes among members. (AP) PY PY