Meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi

Belarusian-Russian relations are the backbone of cooperation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi on 9 June.

According to the head of state, the meeting of the two leaders in Sochi was planned a long time ago. These days the Russian city is hosting the meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the CIS Heads of Government Council.

“We agreed back in Moscow that we will see each other during the time our prime ministers will be holding a meeting here. Belarusian-Russian relations are the backbone after all. If there are any issues, we will respond. You are going to meet with the prime ministers. I believe it is a comprehensive, good event that we are holding. Yes, there are economic issues. We are addressing them. There is room to move forward. Most importantly, we know what to do and in what direction to move,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“And we are doing quite well here, thank God,” Vladimir Putin noted.

“We thought it would be worse. But so far it’s a little better than we thought, thank God. We will build up our relations step by step. At the meeting of chiefs of security councils in Minsk I said that Belarus and Russia would come up with an action plan to deal with the situation we are in. We should not hope that the sanctions will be lifted or something. We should rely on our strengths, on ourselves. And if we work out such a policy response, our partners will definitely join in. I am sure that Kazakhstan will do it within the framework of the EAEU, and Uzbekistan will do it, too. We will create attractive conditions here. I am sure that our union will only grow stronger,” the President of Belarus emphasized.

“We will discuss all issues, including security, economic cooperation. There is something to talk about,” Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart.

According to the President of Russia, it is gratifying to see so much progress in economic cooperation of the two countries, and its pace is ‘remarkably good’.

“The quality of interaction and the structure of our economic relations are changing in the right direction. The primary focus is not only on traditional industries, but also on high-tech areas. This is encouraging,” Vladimir Putin emphasized.

Speaking about the security situation in general, Vladimir Putin described it as stable. “I would even call it good, solid. We cooperate in this area. Everything is going on as planned on the most sensitive issues that we agreed upon with you: the preparation of the relevant installations will be completed on 7-8 July, and we will immediately embark on work to deploy the appropriate types of weapons on your territory. Everything proceeds according to the plan, everything is stable,” the Russian leader said.