Lukashenko: Russia really needs us today, just as we need Russia

Belarusian and Russian enterprises must have equal business conditions – as stated by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko, answering questions from Russian journalists in the Kremlin

When asked about the main topic of the bilateral talks with Vladimir Putin, Aleksandr Lukashenko replied, “These are our usual issues. However, we decided to devote some time to economic bloc. Since our prime ministers will meet in the near future, we must help them a little, outlining a path. Therefore, economic issues come to forefront.”

The Belarusian leader explained that since we are allies and are equally viewed as ‘aggressors’ in the West, the main goal in the economy is to create equal conditions for business entities and people, “That’s what we currently need. Today, Russians probably realised that Belarusians can do a lot. They haven’t seen this before. Now they have seen that we are doing well in electronics, agriculture, industry, and machine tool building. You understand now that Belarus has not only preserved the Soviet layer of science, industry, and agriculture, but also modernised it and improved it properly. That’s why Russia really needs us today, just as we need Russia. Therefore, it is very important we create equal conditions for both our people and our enterprises. This is the key issue.”