Working visit to Russia. Talks with Vladimir Putin

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with Russia President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on 28 May.

The Belarus President noted that indeed a lot had been talked about this meeting. “Unexpectedly even for me. They said we meet very often and the rest… But it is our plan. We declared it back in late 2020. We said we would gradually discuss those matters as you correctly said,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “If we get stuck at some issue and cannot deal with it without specialists, we pass it on to specialists, they prepare it for us. We meet, we move again. The key thing is that we move forward. You’ve correctly mentioned trade growth. We now calculate virtually every bit of a percent. We see that this year Belarus-Russia trade will exceed the pre-COVID level. We have a good pace in this regard.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that Belarus’ GDP growth rate is virtually on par with Russia’s. “Do you know they went as far as to predict some stagnation in Belarus. The Russian economy grows. Naturally our economy moves well because it is tied to Russia. But there are always those, who want to make problems for us. You know about them,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I will inform you. I’ve brought some documents with me since I enjoy such trustful relations with you. I will show them to you so that you could understand what is going on. Ahead of the meeting I will tell you publicly the following things so that you could understand what kind of people they are. Although you and I have discussed many problems in this manner.”

He reminded that last year many countries had to evacuate their citizens from other countries amid the restrictions caused by the pandemic. “Probably nobody saved their own people more than Russia did by bringing them home from resorts. You even helped us bring about 200 Belarusians from India. We helped bring home some Russians, [the Belarusian air carrier] Belavia helped with it. Everything was closed back then. One airport in Minsk kept working and we were bringing our people home. They [a number of other countries, including in the European Union and the USA] shut down everything,” the head of state reminded. “They asked Belavia and our company brought home thousands, thousands of people: Swedes, Germans, Poles, Lithuanians (absolutely everything was closed over there), Americans. Thousands were brought to Minsk because it was the only airport that was still open. And then they took Americans from us or we moved them to the USA. You can’t imagine how grateful they were to us, to Belavia for the people we’d helped move, for the people we’d saved.”

Continuing the line of thought, Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention to the response of the same countries to the incident with the Ryanair aircraft, which landed in Minsk due to the tip about a bomb. “This case has nothing to do with Belavia,” he stressed.

“Belavia’s aircraft were not involved [in the Ryanair flight incident]. The company is based in the airport. Russian aircraft and aircraft of other countries use the airport. It was someone else’s aircraft. They berate the military because we had to land it there. What does Belavia have to do with it? They’ve pulled all the stops to punish it. If it wasn’t for you… I see that Moscow refuses to welcome aircraft that want to fly around Belarus [instead of via Belarus’ airspace]. They felt it right away. But why did they have to punish Belavia workers? Because Belavia brought home thousands during the pandemic. That’s their face,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.

“I will show you some documents. You will understand what was going on and is going on over there. An attempt is in progress to unsettle the situation up to the level of August 2020,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.

Vladimir Putin recalled how Western countries forced an aircraft of the Bolivian President to land. “The President was escorted off the aircraft and nobody complained,” he remarked.

Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed and noted that other aircraft of various countries had been forced to land and nobody had whined about them. “It is understandable what these Western ‘friends’ want from us. There is nothing to talk about… But there were no heights Bolsheviks couldn’t beat. We will beat them, too,” the Belarus President stressed.

Vladimir Putin said that Belarus-Russia trade is on the rise. It is important to reinforce positive trends in cooperation between the two countries.

Vladimir Putin started the conversation by saying: “Thank you for coming. Just like we agreed. We agreed about it even before another loop…”

“Another surge of emotions,” Aleksandr Lukashenko continued the line of thought.

“Yes, a surge of emotions. We have something to discuss without these events. I mean Russia remained Belarus’ key trade and economic partner in Q1 2021. We saw a considerable increase in trade – 18.4%. It is a good trend. It is important to preserve it and keep the governments working actively,” the Russian leader continued.

Vladimir Putin noted that today Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin is in Belarus to participate in a session of the CIS Heads of Government Council, he had contacts with his counterparts over there. “He called me today, told me how work was going on,” the Russian President said.

He remarked that the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant will be commissioned in June. “It is also another good example of our cooperation. There are good positive trends in other areas. All of it will surely be in the center of our attention,” he stated.

The Russian President noted that work on matters concerning the development of the Union State of Belarus and Russia continued as well. “We do it bearing in mind the need to secure interests of both Belarus and Russia. We are moving in this direction. I am convinced the work already produces concrete results for our citizens. We just have to take persistent steps, without hurrying it, without rushing ahead. We should act stage by stage while securing our interests. Each side determines what its interests are,” he stressed.

As they stopped talking about business, the Russian leader noted it was good weather in Sochi. “We can go for a swim,” he invited. Aleksandr Lukashenko responded by saying: “With pleasure”.

Vladimir Putin said: “The sea is getting warmer and warmer. I think it will also contribute to the achievement of results of today’s meeting.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked his counterpart for the invitation: “And on a Friday so that one could definitely take a dip in the sea on the weekend. It is how I understood this invitation.”