Address to members of Russia’s Federation Council

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko took part in the plenary session of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation as part of the official visit to Russia on 14 March.

Russian senators greeted the head of state with applause. “Thank you very much!” he thanked the MPs. “It is a great pleasure to be in this hall. We, in Belarus, are watching the work of the Senate of the Russian Federation very closely. It is nice to hear about your good deeds. I am also pleased to meet with you today.”

The head of state emphasized the importance of the current meeting: “There are a lot of people here who not only remember our history, but also made this history. It is you and me. We are grown-up people with a wealth of knowledge under our belts. We are not the same as we were some 30-40 years ago. Today we are most experienced people. This is what distinguishes us today at this meeting,” the President said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko named the construction of the Union State an issue of high importance for bilateral relations.

In his words, the recent Presidential election in Belarus has shown that the people approve of the country’s path of development. “Voting for the current government, for the incumbent President just gives an answer to who we are with and where we are going,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.

“Russia will never lose Belarus if it feels the soul of this nation – the Belarusian people. If so, Belarus will be together with the Russians, the Russian Federation, as it is doing in today’s difficult times. There is no need to invent anything here,” the President said. “There can be no other way. We are the closest nations, which has been tested by time and proved by real deeds.”

“I have an opportunity to express gratitude to the representatives of the Russian regions for the decision to focus on regional cooperation. Thanks to you we have preserved our unity. If you had not supported Belarusian aspirations then, we would not have such relations today. It would be hard to say where our Belarus would be today,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.

“Our meeting is symbolic. 25 years ago, on 27 October 1999, on the eve of signing the Union State Treaty, I visited the State Duma and expressed my position on the treaty. At that time, the MPs supported very enthusiastically our work with the first President of Russia. I remember well how then I, still a ‘green’ President, persuaded your colleagues - experienced parliamentarians, people of Soviet upbringing - of the need for deeper integration of our countries. It was not easy at all. The political circles both in Belarus and Russia had different opinions about this idea,” the President said. “It was still a time of illusion and isolationist tendencies, free market economy, liberal values, and focus on the Western social model.”

According to the head of state, at that time, despite the declared end of the Cold War, the West was consistently, by inertia, implementing its multi-move strategy of breaking up what was left of the USSR. “But even then, eight years after the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Accords, it was obvious that going alone would be difficult both economically and politically. Almost impossible. We understood it back then” the President said.

“Our countries have fully experienced the notorious democracy and free market. We realized that we should not count on friendly support from the West. They will stab us in the back and throw us under the bus without thinking twice. While we were trying to get back on our feet, restore disrupted ties, somehow put together a budget and feed our people, our Western 'partners' were not wasting their time. In 1999, another wave of NATO expansion took place. The alliance came very close to our borders after the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary joined it,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said that at that time he and the first President of Russia Boris Yeltsin discussed 'all these moves of theirs', they were outraged, but nothing could be done. “As the incumbent President of Russia says, we were deceived,” he noted.

And NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, noted Aleksandr Lukashenko, exposed the true goals of the Alliance. Everyone saw that the principles of peaceful coexistence declared by the West and international law are in fact no longer capable of guaranteeing anything. “This international law was trampled before everyone's eyes,” the President emphasized.

The internal situation was also unstable - a crisis in the economy and society, disorderly redistribution of state property and rampant corruption. “We realized that we can only rely on ourselves. The reality on the ground pushed us to take more decisive steps towards closer cooperation and development of joint guarantees of economic and military security. Together with the first President of Russia Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (I am very grateful to him for this), with the support of the peoples of our countries,  primarily Russians, we made the only right decision - to establish a Union State. We cast aside all fears about who could devour whom, who would govern whom, who would get what in the end,” said the Belarusian leader. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that during the vote in the Federation Council in 2000, 158 senators upheld the adoption of the Union State Treaty. No one voted against, only two abstained.

The head of state noted that the powerful starting conditions for Belarus-Russia integration created a solid foundation for its sustainability and vast development opportunities in the military, economic and political spheres. Aleksandr Lukashenko attributed it to the common history, common tasks and similar national interests; the benefits of the alliance associated with geographical and infrastructural advantages; unwavering focus on results, since integration entails expanded opportunities for citizens and organizations of the two countries.

The Union State's internal stability was boosted by an extensive legal framework. The 28 industry programs  made it possible to unify legislations, launch import-substituting projects and give a new lease on life to the Union State Treaty signed in 1999. Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that the day before, when asked whether the heads of state were satisfied with the progress to implement the programs, Vladimir Putin unequivocally answered in the positive. The President of Belarus is also happy about the progress.

“What makes the Union State unique is that it is a more advanced format of bilateral relations, which, unfortunately, may have no analogues in the world. Thanks to our joint work, it is a vibrant entity that gives us the tools we need, allows us to develop and test new methods of work depending on  circumstances. A striking example is our handling of the latest frantic, absolutely illegal sanctions imposed by the West. This format of cooperation fully ensures our security in a broad sense - from economic and information security to military security, it allows us to maintain a high level of cooperation despite logistical failures and problems with financial settlements. Despite the difference in resource potential, Belarus and Russia complement each other organically, and also bridge the gaps that each of us has, combining the advantages of each country,” the Belarusian leader is confident. 

“I think that today no one needs to be convinced that we have made the right choice. Although there are still some hotheads that produce stories about the imbalance of benefits, Minsk’s dependency, the need for Belarus to become a part of Russia, and speak sarcastically about our union,” the head of state said. “If 25 years were not enough to assess the merits of the integration model of two sovereign states, then such so-called think tanks and experts are worthless.”

The situation with the sanctions has also showed that Russia needs Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed, citing microelectronics as an example. This is a sector that Belarus has been developing since the Soviet Union times.

The reality has made everything clear, he stressed. “There is no Russophobia in our country. Belarus has a respectful attitude to the shared history, religion, and traditions. Many years ago I said that Belarus would never let anybody stab in the back its older brother, Russia. We stay committed to this promise today, reliably defending and protecting our union,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“We are not drifting to one side or the other. Although some politicians, experts and journalists often make such accusations. Belarus has always pursued a multi-vector (or, as they say nowadays, multipolar) foreign policy. How does it differ from Russia? It doesn’t. This policy is understandable in view of our geographical location and openness of the economy,” the head of state said. 

He noted that Belarus has built a strategic and all-weather partnership with China. The country is also interested in comprehensive cooperation with members of the CIS, SCO, and BRICS, seeks to develop trade with Asian, African, and Latin American states, and wants good relations with the neighboring Europe and the United States.

“But our special, closest, brotherly relations with Russia have always been our main priority and will always be. We openly talk about this all the time. To any criticism regarding our support for you, I always answer: if we have to choose, we will always side with our Russia. It cannot be otherwise. Belarus will never abandon Russia alone, just as Russia will never abandon Belarus. This is the choice of the Belarusian people,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

These words of the Belarusian President were greeted with applause.

The head of state also recalled that back in 1995 the people of Belarus made a decision to grant the Russian language the status of the state language at a referendum and supported the course towards the integration with Russia. “Have we deviated from those historical decisions over 30 years? No,” the Belarusian leader noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko has quoted concrete figures to explain how individuals benefit from the union of Belarus and Russia. 

The Belarusian leader described economic cooperation as the foundation and quoted certain indicators of the last 25 years. In this period the GDP grew by more than 6 times in nominal terms in Belarus and by 10 times in Russia. The GDP per capita rose by nearly 7 times in Belarus and by 11 times in Russia. Trade turnover rose by 7 times to come close to $60 billion last year. Despite the complicated external situation record-high figures were secured in the last three years – from 2022 through 2024.

“The most important thing is that the real income of citizens has increased substantially. Their quality of life has improved. It means that the union benefits first and foremost our people,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

At the same time Aleksandr Lukashenko made it clear that there are still quite many problems that need to be addressed and the parties are determined to do it.

The head of state pointed out that Russian mass media usually rather modestly mention or totally do not talk about the fact that thanks to manufacturing cooperation ties with Belarus more than 3 million Russians have a permanent source of income. Tens of thousands of enterprises, a broad choice of products and services are affected.

Despite the different scales of the two economies, the parties harmonize and synchronize many tried and tested approaches to supporting the enterprises, protecting the market and investments. “The task has not changed since 25 years ago: to ensure the pursuance of a single industrial, technological, and R&D policy,” the head of state stated.

He stated that judging by the latest decisions Russia needs Belarusian experience in the field of planning and in the field of public private partnership. “But even more should be done from my point of view. We need to learn how to get mobilized. While Belarus can get mobilized within one week, Russia may need several weeks. But we should learn how it’s done. It is particularly relevant now,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

He remarked that there are any contradictions with regard to proponents of liberal or market-based approaches, particularly if they contribute to this mobilization.

In turn, from Russia Belarus borrows approaches to creating digital technologies, government services and digital platforms based on them. “We have also done quite a lot in this regard. Russia was still thinking about IT back in the day while we had already created the Hi-Tech Park,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. But it was an error to allow the Hi-Tech Park to operate without creating end products to satisfy needs of Belarus or Russia. It operated according to orders from high-tech Western companies.

Speaking about the development of information technologies and artificial intelligence, which everyone talks about now, Aleksandr Lukashenko expressed an opinion by saying that certainly, the matter should be explored but it is not a good idea to get too far ahead of ourselves. “Getting ahead so far that the society will not understand and will not accept these steps,” he explained. “Yes, it is necessary to stay half a step, a step ahead. Our common history teaches us that,” the President remarked.

Cooperation in the field of microelectronics and the production of components contributes a lot to the work of such Russian giants as Roscosmos, Rosatom, Rostec, and Almaz-Antey.

“We have managed to preserve and (in a number of positions) restore the interindustry cooperation and manufacturing cooperation that were established in the Soviet era,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.