Expert: They knew about consequences of Baumgertner’s detention

Uralkali director-general was detained at the airport in Minsk. He did damage to Belarus’ national interests, the Investigation Committee said.

“The criminal case was started by the General Prosecutor’s Office. This person abused power which resulted in huge damage done to the national and civil interests of Belarus and caused losses for Belkali and the Belarusian Potash Company,” press secretary of the Investigation Committee Pavel Travulka told Euroradio.

The Russian company has confirmed the fact of the detention but it has even less information about it than Belarusian journalists do. The representative of the press service seemed nervous because she did not expect the director general to be detained. The information suddenly appeared several hours after his detention (in the afternoon of August 26). It turned out that Baumgertner has been invited to Minsk by… Mihail Myasnikovich. He was detained at the airport after having met the Belarusian PM.

The discord between Uralkali and Belaruskali started at the end of July when the Russian company stopped its export through Belaruskali without any warning. Uralkali-Trading became the only trade channel. Uralkali explained it by violations of the principles of trading in a single network. Experts thought that Belaruskali would have to sell part of the company quicker than planned. However, Belarus accused Uralkali of attempting to absorb the Belarusian company.

Baumgertner probably said something that did not satisfy the official Minsk, expert Syarhei Chaly reckons.

“Evidently, there were some negotiations. And then they decided what to do with him… The measure is very serious and they probably thought about the possible consequences before doing it. Evidently, they understood that it would result in an international scandal.”

According to the Investigation Committee, some of the other suspects are member of the supervisory board Oleg Petrov, senior deputy director general Konstantsin Solodovnikov and senior deputy director general Igor Yevstratov. They are wanted by Interpol now.

Vladislav Baumgertner’s whereabouts are unknown. The Russian is facing 3-10 years of imprisonment according to the third part of article 424 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

Photo: vdmsti.ru