Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg on 29 December.

The meeting took place in the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna.

At the official meeting Aleksandr Lukashenko thanked Russia, and first of all personally President Vladimir Putin for supporting Belarus amidst the sanctions.

“Naturally, you are well-informed about the situation in Belarus. I am very grateful to you, and I appreciate what you personally have done for Belarus and I appreciate the support you provide to us. I don’t want to flatter you. It's not about that. The thing is that you are very receptive to all our proposals and requests. Russian companies, the Russian government and banks meet us halfway and support us in this difficult time of sanctions. There are incessant attempts to strangle us. They introduced five rounds of sanctions, and they are considering the sixth round. These sanctions make no sense and will not benefit anyone,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.

Aleksandr Lukashenko continued: “The fact that our trade and GDP increased this year despite the sanctions and the pandemic is to a large extent due to the Russian Federation and to a lesser extent to our other friends in the international arena. I would like to sincerely thank you for that.”

The President noted that no matter what turn the relations could take, the Belarusians will definitely return the favor. “I think we can still do a lot. We cooperate in all areas and we will keep doing it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

The head of state spoke in positive terms about the outcomes of the CIS informal summit in Saint Petersburg.

“It was a very good event – cordial and friendly. We saw once again that the leaders of the post-Soviet republics, including Belarus, fully understand the situation around us and the intricacies of international politics. And this is due to Russia. Of course, Russia always finds itself on the receiving end of this all and this time too. Russia proved to be a reliable partner. The way we, heads of state, act shows that we understand what is happening. People in our states understand it too. The whole thing brought us closer (I am already an experienced person in this) and strengthened our determination to address various issues together,” the Belarusian leader said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, despite the informal nature of the CIS meeting held the day before, the parties managed to reach understanding across a number of issues, including those they had failed to agree on before. The head of state mentioned humanitarian matters, like science, the Russian language, and so on. “We were pleasantly surprised by all our colleagues who supported your proposals on many humanitarian issues. I think you will later tell people about this yourself,” the President stressed.

The Belarusian head of state noted that he had asked his Russian counterpart to continue cooperation in the defense industry, the military-industrial complex. "You have always supported me in this regard. I have asked you not to stop holding joint exercises. We continue to set up centers to train our military, first of all, in new samples of military equipment that we buy from Russia," the Belarusian President said.

"I know that you and your military are considering my proposals for exercises on the territory of Belarus. I would like you to support them. This will benefit the Belarusian-Russian relations," Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

Vladimir Putin, in turn, said: "As you suggested, we will hold the exercises at the beginning of the year. The military will coordinate and decide when, in March-February, or some other time.”

The President agreed that Belarus and Russia will cooperate in aircraft industry.

"We can already say that an agreement has been reached. I thank you again for supporting cooperation in the aircraft industry. We have both civilian and military aircraft factories. We can benefit tremendously from the cooperation in this field. Moreover, products that these facilities manufacture are in demand in the Russian aircraft industry," the Belarusian President said.

Vladimir Putin concurred with Aleksandr Lukashenko. "Following our meeting the government will be given an appropriate instruction."