Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is reportedly willing to change his country's currency over to the Russian ruble. He has already been rewarded with cheaper gas supplies from Russia for his signing of an agreement towards deepening integration with Moscow.

On Friday, Mr Lukashenko joined Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in signing a declaration for the establishment of a Eurasian Economic Union (EUG), Rzeczpospolita reported. The agency will regulate the economies and trade of the three states. It may even adopt a common currency in the future.

After the signing Mr Lukashenko reportedly told Russian television that Belarus is interested in taking part in a hypothetical EUG currency union which would have the Russian ruble as its currency.

As a reward for signing the EUG agreement, prices for Russian gas exported to Belarus will reportedly by cut by a factor of two next year.

Poland A.M.