Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
Aliaksandr Lukashenka met today with Petr Fradkov, chairman of Russia’s PSB Bank. He expressed interest in cooperation with the Russian bank, stressing that it would help prevent a rupture in ties between Moscow and Minsk.
“We are very positively disposed toward your bank in Belarus and would like the closest possible cooperation with your bank. Yesterday evening, Aliaksandr Henrikhovich spoke about this. And it seems to me that he has already developed an entire plan for our relations. Thank you for coming to Belarus. I am ready to discuss any issues. We are ready to cooperate,” Lukashenka told Fradkov, referring to Belarusian Prime Minister Aliaksandr Turchyn.
Lukashenka also asked Fradkov to convey his warmest regards to his father, former head of the Russian government and the Foreign Intelligence Service Mikhail Fradkov.
“If you have the opportunity, convey my warmest regards to your father. The most important thing is health. He has everything else. If not, as I say, we’ll buy it. I have very warm feelings toward him after our joint work. After all, he worked for a long time — both as prime minister and as head of the Foreign Intelligence Service,” Lukashenka said.
It should be noted that Petr Fradkov’s brother Pavel is also a senior official: he serves as deputy defense minister.
During the conversation, Lukashenka also mentioned a “common homeland” and the high-speed railway from Moscow to Minsk.
“I know your patriotic feelings and your attitude toward Russia. But we have a common homeland, as I often say, from Vladivostok to Brest. Therefore, Belarus should not be foreign to you. Especially since I viewed very positively the recent decision adopted in Russia to build a high-speed railway from Moscow to Minsk.
This is very interesting for our people. Because in recent years — I already call it some kind of pilgrimage of Belarusians to Moscow. Especially young people.
So let’s cooperate to ensure that our peoples are always together. And so that there is never any talk on either side — in Minsk or Moscow — that our peoples can somehow be torn apart,” he said.
In turn, Fradkov emphasized that Belarus had always been a priority for PSB Bank. He said it was very important to him that cooperation was continuing and developing in entirely different areas.
“We have always been, are, and will continue to be one of the key partners of Belarus’s banking system as a whole, and one of the major lenders to banks. This is important to us. We are developing this area,” he said.
According to him, the bank’s partners in Belarus include MAZ, BelAZ and Belarusian Railways. The bank plans to develop its leasing business.
“We are now going through all the necessary procedures to work with the state leasing company,” he added.
PSB Bank is a Russian state-owned bank that handles state defense procurement and government contracts. It also provides industrial and military mortgages to industrial enterprises.
In 2022, the bank began operating in the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia, taking over the assets of the “central banks of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.” PSB Bank is under sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and a number of other countries.