Aleksandr Lukashenko holds meeting with Nikolai Patrushev 1 March

March 1, 2012

President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko is in favor of enhancing military and political cooperation of Belarus and Russia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The Belarusian head of state made this statement as he met with Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev on 1 March.

“We have created the Single Economic Space. Positive and negative aspects of our military and political union CSTO are prominent more than ever. Yet we can state that all CSTO members agree the organization is developing in the right direction. It has acquired more dynamics recently,” Aleksandr Lukashenko told Nikolai Patrushev. “We are starting making concrete steps within the framework of the organization that the countries need. It is very important revitalization from the point of view of the member states of the Single Economic Space”.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the role of the CIS and its agencies is absolutely obvious. “We understand virtually all matters here and see the role, the significance, we see the field the organization operates on. The same applies to other organizations, too, particularly our union of Belarus and Russia,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “All the problems here have been resolved,” the President of Belarus stressed. He reminded that the approval of all the legal acts required to create the single regional air defense system had been one of the latest steps.

“We have made all the decisions. Therefore, I feel we should make next steps,” the head of state said. “I would not like to say things will be simple but someone has to start somewhere, naturally Belarus and Russia should start. We have to determine where we should start in order to achieve radical advance. It will make sense to discuss the matters we can significantly advance”.

“I do not think Kazakhstan will stay out. It means other countries will not, at least the CSTO will not. In the Single Economic Space we enjoy tight economic cooperation and naturally military and political matters cannot lag behind,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

The head of state underlined it was necessary to determine what way they should advance to avoid “getting frozen” at the present level the way it happened in the Union of Belarus and Russia. “People would shrug their shoulders and ask: what is next? We were tardy with our initiatives back then”.

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the election campaign in Russia is about to end. He said that he was confident it will be successful. “We will possibly be able to discuss these matters in March, April, or May because continuity of the government in Russia is high,” the President said.

Nikolai Patrushev, in turn, remarked that the security councils of the two countries had held very interesting and thoughtful consultations, including consultations about international and regional security within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia. “I think we have heard each other and these opinions will be useful for future joint work,” he said.

When speaking about the foreign political situation around Belarus, Nikolai Patrushev said that the policy of sanctions will not bring positive results. "Heads of the European Union think they can teach other nations how they should live," the official said.

He remarked that there are various regimes in Europe: monarchy, presidential and parliamentary forms of leadership. "But no one says they are not democratic. So why do they dispute the country with the constitution being democratic? Why do they believe it is possible to impose any sanctions or restrictions? Does it lead to positive results, help people become closer to each other? Nothing of the kind," Nikolai Patrushev is convinced.