Фото: пресс-служба Лукашенко
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, during a meeting with the governor of Russia’s Rostov Oblast, Yury Slyusar, assured him that no one will be able to break the unity between Minsk and Moscow. At the same time, he took a jab at Russia’s “soft power” structures, directing a criticism at the Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov.
According to Lukashenka, Belarus–Russia relations are based on many factors — cultural and historical ties, interpersonal contacts — but the main one should be the economy.
“Boris Vyacheslavovich, I tell you this out of old friendship. Boris Vyacheslavovich, the main thing for us is not to walk around here with ‘Rossotrudnichestvo,’ campaigning for Russia. No need. Belarusians don’t need to be persuaded to support Russia. What we need is to bind our states and peoples economically,” he said, according to his press service.
As an example of such “economic” persuasion, he mentioned the increase in the number of *Lastochka* trains running between the capitals of Belarus and Russia.
“I give him an example: he added one more *Lastochka* from Moscow to Minsk — and you couldn’t get a seat on the old routes or the new ones. Crowds of people. They go to Moscow, they go to Russia. These crazed people closed the border to the West. Fine — our people used to go to St. Petersburg, to Moscow, and now they go… yesterday there was a hockey match — well, sorry, it happened that we won against Ak Bars — so people went to Kazan from Minsk as if to their own home. No one stops them. That’s why planes, trains, bus routes are in huge demand. And Russians want to visit Belarus. Russians take first place in filling tourist facilities and hotels. And even though healthcare in Russia is at a high level, and used to be the same as ours, they still come to Belarus. We welcome this,” Lukashenka added.
He also emphasized that he regularly tells Russian president Vladimir Putin about his meetings with governors.
“And I’m saying this because I tell Vladimir Vladimirovich about contacts with governors all the time, so that Boris Vyacheslavovich won’t get jealous — and then on Saturday, Yury from Rostov will come. ‘Ah, yes, yes, I know,’ he says, ‘a tech guy,’ that’s what he called him. So we have full support. And I’m meeting with you because… I understand what a governor means in Russia, and I want to advance our relations. And I’m counting on you. We need Rostov. The trust is very high,” he said.
Lukashenka quickly added that Belarus and Russia cannot be separated.
“The external pressure is enormous. I won’t name addresses, passwords, or details. You know them well. So we must hold on to what we have. Belarus and Russia have been together and will be. No one will be able to tear apart our unity, no matter how much someone might want to. People, our nations, won’t allow it. We need to endure this, we need to hold on. That’s the main thing,” he said.
During the meeting, Lukashenka also raised his usual topics of cooperation with Russian regions: food supplies, industrial cooperation, and so on. He also used the occasion to make statements about building a second nuclear power plant, as well as about relations with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.