Meeting with Chairman of Communist Party faction in Russia’s parliament Gennady Zyuganov

After the collapse of the USSR, Belarus and Russia lost the system which was unparalleled in the world, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Chairman of the Communist Party faction in the Russian parliament Gennady Zyuganov on 19 July.

“We have lost the country, but the worst thing was that we lost the system which took decades to create and which was unparalleled in the world. If we had polished and improved it, we would have become an absolutely different state even after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Today we are demolishing the remnants of that system which we, perhaps, should have preserved, in the economy and especially in the socio-economic development.”

The head of state also remarked that certain problems still exist in the relations of Belarus and Russia. “Although we have made huge progress in our relations, the government of the country is concerned about a number of issues which are hurting people,” the President said.

When together, Belarus and Russia could beat any competition if they haggled less with each other, Gennady Zyuganov said. “If we haggled less over the price for either gas, oil, meat, or milk, and thought more about complementing each other and establishing more effective cooperation, we could beat any competition, and our products would be on par with European goods in terms of quality and cheaper by one-third, and we would never lose our markets to anyone,” the leader of the Russian Communist Party stressed.

The meeting focused on the current state of affairs and prospects of Belarus-Russia relations, the international agenda.

The Belarusian President awarded Gennady Zyuganov with the Order of Friendship of Peoples in recognition of his big personal contribution to the enhancement of friendly ties and cooperation between Belarus and Russia, establishment of the Union State, development of economic, scientific, technical, and cultural ties.