Eismont: talks between leaders of Belarus, Russia scheduled for March 14th to be informal
The talks between the presidents of Belarus and Russia, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, scheduled for March 14th will be informal – as noted by Natalya Eismont, the Press Secretary of Belarus’ Head of State, BelTA reports
"Our President has already announced [during his speech at the Federation Council] today's talks with Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin, President of Russia]. It will be an informal conversation, no details are yet available,” Ms. Eismont said.
The Press Secretary recalled that the official negotiations took place on March 13th as part of the Belarusian President’s official visit to Russia – first in a one-on-one format, and then with the participation of delegations from the two countries. According to Ms. Eismont, a huge range of issues were discussed yesterday, including those related to the economy. “There is something left for today as well. If there is an opportunity, we will reveal the details,” she added.
At the same time, the Press Secretary did not rule out that today's meeting would discuss the Russia-US contacts, which – according to media reports – took place yesterday. "I assume that the continuation of Aleksandr Lukashenko's negotiation marathon may be connected with that,” she said.
President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko continues his official visit to the Russian Federation, which is the Belarusian leader’s first foreign visit since his re-election in January this year. On March 14th, the second day of the visit, the Head of State addressed the plenary session of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russian Parliament.
As reported, Aleksandr Lukashenko arrived in Moscow on March 13th, his official talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin took place in the Kremlin. The heads of state talked one-on-one for a little over an hour, and then the issues on the agenda were discussed in an expanded format with the participation of members of the delegations. The talks took place in the format of a lunch.
Right then, Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested that the communication between the heads of Belarus and Russia could be continued during the ongoing visit. "We have conducted only a third of our negotiations. We will continue them tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, if necessary – so that to think over the prospects. The latter need to be defined. Time is passing quickly, and it is raising many questions for us," the Belarusian leader said.
