Report of Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Aleksandr Rogozhnik

While praising the development of Belarus-Russia cooperation over 2025, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that the planned goals had not been fully met despite trade growth. The Belarusian leader made these remarks as he met with Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Aleksandr Rogozhnik to receive his report on 5 January.

“The fact that Russia is our priority goes without saying. I hardly need to tell our ambassador that. We spoke about the topic when you were appointed. After working for some time there, you understand that this is our main direction. Overall, we appear to be securing growth. And to be frank, given the current circumstances in Belarus and Russia, a figure of 102.5%, nearing 103%, is reasonably good. However, our target was 105%. We are aware of the issues. There is a downturn in industrial output. This falls under your purview, incidentally, as a former Industry Minister (though of course, there’s no such thing as a ‘former’ minister),” the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also asked how work was progressing on establishing joint manufacturing ventures with Russia. “This is very important. We discuss machine tool construction a lot now. There can be no development without it. And we have this area. We have a solid groundwork, a school of thought, the necessary competencies,” the President said. “We discuss aircraft manufacturing, many other areas, and the defense industry too. What is your assessment here? What are the weaknesses?”

Another focus of operations in the Russian market is the services sector. “You agree that we must expand our presence in Russia in this area. All the more so because these opportunities are currently in high demand there,” the President stressed.

“We are stalled on the digital signature issue. What is the problem? For us, this opens doors in numerous areas within Russia. Moreover, decisions on this appear to have already been taken. What is the reason for the delay? I will raise these questions when I meet with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, in case someone there is causing a bottleneck,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President also mentioned the project to build a high-speed railway line between Moscow and Minsk, and further to Brest: “This is very important for us. As an industrialist, what do you see here? Is it realistic or not? Especially since this route, the eastern one, primarily to Moscow, is in very high demand among our people.”

Addressing the head of state, Aleksandr Rogozhnik said: “Regarding our performance in 2025, the Belarusian embassy in Russia has delivered. While we did not meet the set target of 105% growth [the goal for export growth to Russia] achieving 102.3% over eleven months [January-November 2025] is, in my opinion, an outstanding outcome under the current conditions of a cooling Russian economy.”

The ambassador took the opportunity to congratulate the President on the New Year and the upcoming Christmas.

Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed gratitude for the congratulations and emphasized: “A very important year for us is beginning. There is no room for failure. God has been merciful to us: the snow has fallen and covered the crops (the planting went quite well, and the seedlings look good). So overall, the situation is all right across the country. Now we just have to do our part. Therefore, the new year is the start of new endeavors for us.”