Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin held a meeting ahead of a session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council at the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library in St Petersburg.
During the meeting, Putin once again recalled that he had watched Lukashenka’s address to the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly live and thanked him for the “high assessment of the quality” of Russian-Belarusian relations.
“I watched your speech live — it just worked out that way. It was very deep and, as they say in such cases, balanced,” Putin said.
“I didn’t say anything unnecessary,” Lukashenka joked.
“Well, you always decide that yourself. But it seemed to me that it really was deep — I will repeat — very multifaceted and balanced, both on foreign affairs and domestic issues, from all sides. All the problems were addressed. I listened with pleasure and interest. And I want to thank you for the high assessment of the quality of our Russian-Belarusian relations. I noted the warmth with which you spoke about Russia and about our relations. I am sure many people noticed that as well,” Putin said.
Lukashenka stated that Belarus and Russia are implementing all agreements, from military-technical cooperation to the economy.
“We agreed back in Bishkek that we would not overload ourselves with practical issues of bilateral relations. First of all, that is right — there are not many of them, the governments are working quite well. As we agreed, if something is not resolved, then let them bring the issues upstairs. There are one or two such issues that need to be agreed. But overall, we are implementing all agreements, starting from military-technical and defense cooperation to the economy. There are practically no issues here,” he said.
He thanked Putin for the invitation and for his assessment of the address at the Assembly and praised Putin for the televised call-in program held on December 19.
“Thank you for inviting me. We traditionally come to St Petersburg. To be honest, I was preparing for this trip and thought: well, you probably held your call-in program, I held the Assembly, we have probably completed the main events, maybe we can relax a bit. But nothing of the sort — life does not really allow us to relax. Maybe that is a good thing, that we stay in good shape.
Thank you for the assessment; it was received very positively by us. The fact that the president of Russia watched and listened to the report — that address at the Assembly was frank and sincere. I reported this the very next day, during the second day, and your statement at the call-in program was received very energetically. I congratulate you on that event — it was a landmark event, especially now. And I must say, as a president, it was a courageous event in the current situation. It is good that we did not avoid any common issues. We also reviewed and analyzed them, identified the shared issues that need work,” Lukashenka said.
“And the fact that we have taken this course together — as a locomotive of integration processes in the post-Soviet space. We are not imposing anything on anyone — if you want, take it into account in your domestic policy; if you don’t want to, don’t. But it is a good example for those who are inclined toward joint work and integration. So we will agree on a couple of issues and can continue our common work within the EAEU,” Lukashenka added.
