Aleksandr Lukashenko to hold talks with Vladimir Putin today
Belarusian-Russian talks at the top level will be held in Minsk today, with Head of State Aleksandr Lukashenko meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will pay a working visit to Belarus
As reported earlier in the Belarusian leader’s press service, the programme of the talks is expected to be rich. They will start with a conversation in an expanded format. The heads of states, as well as members of the governments of the two countries, heads of ministries and departments will take part in it. In this format, the parties will discuss in detail the entire range of the most pressing issues of Belarusian-Russian integration.
The presidents will then continue their one-on-one talks, after which they are expected to make statements and answer questions from reporters.
It is planned that during the negotiation day, the heads of state will discuss in detail the implementation of the previously adopted Union State programmes. First of all, they will tackle issues of trade-economic interaction and joint co-operation projects with an emphasis on import substitution. Collaboration in the energy sector will also become an important topic on the negotiating agenda. The presidents will prioritise security issues, share their views on the situation in the region and the world, and discuss joint measures to respond to emerging challenges.
Last Friday, at a meeting discussing issues of Belarusian-Russian co-operation, Aleksandr Lukashenko told how the current negotiations would differ from the previous ones, “The difference is simple. Earlier, when we met with the President, the Russian leadership, certain ministers, we discussed tactical issues. There was no getting away from this, since terrible, one might say, sanctions were imposed against Russia and Belarus. There seem to be about 900 restrictive measures against Russia, and at the same time against us, so that through us, as they say [in the West], Russia could not get around these sanctions. Therefore, we had to meet during the year and respond to the situation that developed as a result of the collective West’s pressure on us. That is, these were primarily current tactical issues. Although, at every meeting we tried to look into the future through these issues.”
At the upcoming meeting in Minsk, the heads of state will primarily discuss strategic issues.
“These will be strategic issues, primarily, in the sphere of economy,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Yes, we will talk about the military-political situation around our states. Of course, we will not get away from the issue of not only the military-industrial complex (where weapons, ammunition, etc. are produced), but we will also talk about the defence capability and security of our Union State. Nevertheless, economy is the major accent.”
The second peculiarity of the upcoming talks is that Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin have previously agreed to meet at the end of the year and resolve a number of accumulated problematic issues that arose during the implementation of 28 Union State programmes, “President Putin and I approved these programmes and instructed our governments, ministers and specialists to act within the framework of these programmes. As I am informed, 60 percent of all activities have been implemented. These are good paces. However, while implementing certain programmes, our governments are faced with issues that they cannot solve, because these are issues of the presidents. According to the constitutions of Russia and Belarus, these are issues that Putin and I have to settle. Half a year ago, we agreed with Vladimir Putin that we would meet at the end of the year and settle all the accumulated issues that need to be resolved. Here is the ‘conspiracy theory’ of all the problems and features of our future negotiations, as it is often said in a journalistic way.”
