Quote Originally Posted by kaur View Post
Why Russians need this Lukashenko guy? If I remember correctly Russian state pays every year 20 billion to support this system. 10x more than to Crimea in the future.
My bad with numbers. Bad memory

Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Shatalov told Reuters in March that Belarus and Kazakhstan received about $6 billion annually from Russia in direct and indirect support and said that could increase by $30 billion if all trade restrictions were lifted in 2015 after the union is created.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9BO06S20131225

In 2012 support was 6 billion. Belarus budget was 16 billion. First chapter here

http://www.osw.waw.pl/sites/default/...us_ang_net.pdf

Here are some numbers about Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria for comparsion.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...kraine/284197/

Armenia.

Russian cumulative investment in Armenia currently exceeding $3 billion, or approximately one half of total foreign investment in this country whose total annual total GDP was reported at $9.8 billion in 2012 (Interfax, Armenpress, September 3, 4).

http://www.jamestown.org/regions/rus...8#.U3zb7doaySM