‘To co-ordinate stances and consult on some issues’

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin in Minsk

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“I am happy to have this opportunity to meet with you. Frankly speaking, I have been looking forward to it to compare notes, consult on certain matters and discuss plans for the near future, including how we will act and what steps we will take, and to consider a number of political issues amid the current turbulent situation. Your opinion is very important to me,” the Head of State said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked Sergei Naryshkin for visiting Belarus and asked him to convey his greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule: I know you have plenty on your plate. 

Please convey my warmest regards to Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] upon your return. Although we often communicate by phone, this gesture would be fitting given the nature of our relationship,” the Belarusian leader stated. In turn, Sergei Naryshkin expressed gratitude to the Belarusian Head of State for the opportunity to meet. “First of all, I would also like to convey the warm greetings from Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin,” he added.

Sergei Naryshkin took the opportunity to congratulate Aleksandr Lukashenko on his convincing victory in the Presidential election. “I am genuinely happy about the election results. I would like to take this chance to congratulate you personally on your win. We had no doubts about it, but this victory was truly convincing. It proves that the Belarusian people, the voters, support both the domestic and foreign policy course of the country defined by the Belarusian President,” the SVR head emphasised. 
The journalists later asked the SVR Chief to share information about the efforts being made to combat the glorification of Nazism and the falsification of history, and Mr. Naryshkin stated, 
“The Foreign Intelligence Service is promoting the truth. We are working much with the archival materials available to us, sharing the access to some documents that tell the truth about the events of the Great Patriotic War.”
Archival documents, according to Mr. Naryshkin, are one of the most powerful tools that do not allow to question both the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War and the feat of the generation of winners.
Another tool used recently is the strategic declassification of relevant intelligence information, and the SVR Chief explained, “Unfortunately, many Western countries, Poland, and the Baltic States are thinking over the plans to disrupt or interfere with the celebrations of the Great Victory. It comes to the point that a Baltic country intends to destroy the military graves of the Red Army soldiers and officers who liberated these states from fascism. Of course, this is undignified. We try to make such materials public when it is possible from an operational point of view, without deciphering our sources — and we are doing that.”
Referring to the situation around the Union State borders, the SVR Chief drew attention to the aggressive rhetoric emanating from Poland and the Baltic States, “They are very aggressive, at least in words. They are constantly rattling their weapons. Poland has gone so far as to announce its plans to lay about two million anti-tank mines along the borders [of Belarus and Russia] and is very much expecting nuclear weapons from the Americans. It is sad. They are completely unable to understand that it is the build-up of military activity on the borders of Russia and Belarus that has become one of the factors and causes of the current major, acute, very dangerous crisis on the European continent.”
Mr. Naryshkin added that in case of aggression by the North Atlantic Alliance against the Union State, the damage will be inflicted on the entire NATO bloc, but Poland and the Baltic States would be the first to suffer.

Formula of work: ‘one Fatherland and two states’

The presidents of Belarus and Russia, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, have made a decision that Sergei Glazyev will become the new State Secretary of the Union State. It was stated during the meeting of the Belarusian leader with the Deputy State Secretary of the Union State, Sergei Glazyev, in Minsk.

Welcoming the guest, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the movement of Belarus and Russia towards a closer union should be based primarily on the economy, “You are an economist, and I believe you have a God-given talent. Many of your steps contradict the ideas of those who think differently in our country and in the Russian Federation. 

We have agreed with Vladimir Putin that your contribution to the construction of the Union State should be significant. He thinks well of you, and you already know my opinion for a long time. Due to the fact that Dmitry Mezentsev’s term in office is coming to an end and he is leaving for another job, we have agreed and decided to appoint you as the head and locomotive of our Union State integration in terms of leading the entire apparatus of the Union State.

I think there will be good results, and Dmitry Nikolaevich [Krutoi, Head of the Belarus President Administration] shares the same opinion (since he worked as Ambassador to the Russian Federation until recently and, over that time, studied the main directions of our activities very well).”
The Head of State expressed confidence that he would meet with Sergei Glazyev again, and he would inform Aleksandr Lukashenko — as Chairman of the Supreme State Council of the Union State — about his vision and his proposals for the further integration development. “You know that our decisions are made by consensus. Well, a lot depends on what results we jointly achieve and present them to the Russian side, and above all to the President of the Russian Federation. He aims to ensure that we maintain the closest possible relationship,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. 

‘We are smart enough to build unified system of interaction’

The President recalled the formula of work within the framework of the Union State: ‘one Fatherland and two states’, “I think it is a feasible idea for now. We have one Fatherland, and it is stretching from Brest to Vladivostok. It happened so that we have two states. We will build relationships. I often say that we are smart enough people to build a unified system of interaction and establish our relations even closer than within a unitary state.”
The Belarusian leader added that this task must be solved, even if it seems too ambitious, “Otherwise, you see what is happening around us. We will fail to exist [unless there is a strong union].”
Aleksandr Lukashenko added that those were the topics of his first conversation with Sergei Glazyev, who will head the Standing Committee of the Union State. The President announced a separate meeting and conversation, adding that he’s counting much on Sergei Glazyev and the team that would work in the Union State directorate.

Union State’s further development

Sergei Glazyev thanked the Head of State for his trust and assured the Belarusian leader that he would use all his strength and competence to implement the ideas laid down in the Union State concept — ‘so that everything meets the latest economic achievements’, “To ensure equal economic conditions, equal rights for citizens, and common development mechanisms, to expand co-operation and create a highly competitive and proactive economy.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko, in turn, noted that it was Sergei Glazyev with his ideas who was at the origin of the Union State co-operation process.
Later Sergei Glazyev told reporters about new milestones of the Union State.
According to Mr. Glazyev, the Union State is the core of the integration process of the two countries, where the most subtle and complex issues of integration are being worked out. “We not only share a common economic space, but also common development programmes. We have implemented dozens of sci-tech programmes and projects in a wide range of areas,” he said.
As noted by Mr. Glazyev, the Union State is following the path that has been consistently laid down for 25 years, and new milestones are determined by modern tasks, “This means increasing the efficiency of work, increasing the scale of activities, creating new integration mechanisms, forming common institutions and development strategies, expanding and deepening co-operation, and combining competitive advantages.”

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by