President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko: Ladies and gentlemen, friends.
Mr Putin and I have just had productive talks in restricted and expanded formats. First of all, I am grateful to the President of Russia for making time for an official visit to Belarus despite his very busy schedule. This is a positive signal, and not only a signal.
This gave us an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion of Belarusia-Russia cooperation focusing specifically on the economy. You have probably noticed that we have been devoting a lot of time to defence and security issues lately. As earlier agreed, we discussed defence and security yesterday, and today we mainly focused on economic issues.
The Belarusian-Russian relations have grown noticeably stronger in recent time, with interaction and trust between our countries reaching a truly unprecedented level in all spheres. We can safely say that both economies are growing rapidly, despite all kinds of obstacles, the ones that we are all aware of.
Belarus intends to further develop its nuclear industry relying on Russian technology. We have thoroughly discussed all aspects of industrial cooperation, the development of mechanical engineering, machine-tool manufacture, and microelectronics, primarily in terms of stepping up import substitution, which should make us independent from imports and enhance our technological sovereignty. Ultimately, this will guarantee the security of our states.
We are confident that the new Russian Government will maintain continuity of policies regarding Belarus.
There are no irreconcilable differences between our countries. There are issues that require closer attention and deeper study; those will certainly be addressed. We must honestly admit that we have resolved all issues – there are no unresolved issues as of today. I am sure that we will continue to work in the same way in the future.
In this context, we have discussed plans to draft a common industrial policy of the Union State. Essentially, what we need to do is root out the remaining protective measures and restrictions once and for all. Otherwise, not only our peoples, but even the two of us will have trouble understanding each other.
Special focus was given on the development of transport and logistics. We are at one thinking that an additional major investment is necessary for this high-potential sector.
In recent years, we have taken a new look at regional cooperation and seen its true potential. Without exaggeration, today Belarus and its regions cooperate with almost all Russian regions, and its exports are growing. I have already said that on June 27 and 28, the XI Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia will be held in Vitebsk, Polotsk, and Novopolotsk.
We expect you, our Russian colleagues, to attend this forum. I know that there will be a compelling agenda there.
Naturally, we will discuss the current international agenda today: security issues in the world and in the region in the context of the unprecedented level of tensions that we always have to deal with. We have absolutely identical approaches to this. We will not deviate from our chosen path of creating a fair multipolar world order.
I would like to thank my colleague, President of Russia, for detailed results of his visit to China. Belarus is also committed to developing comprehensive partnership with Beijing but we also keep in mind our own development. Every year, Belarusian-Chinese relations are going from strength to strength. We hope that we will join the SCO at the summit of this influential international organisation in Astana in July.
I would also like to thank the Russian people, the Russian leadership and the Russian Foreign Ministry for your great support for us when we were joining the SCO.
In conclusion, I would like to note that I thank my Russian colleague for the warm brotherly conversation, for our fruitful and substantive meeting, and for finding mutual understanding on all topics. We can count on further comprehensive reciprocal support.
Thank you for your attention.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mister Lukashenko, friends, ladies and gentlemen,
First of all I want to thank the President of Belarus for the invitation – I have said it already and I will repeat – to visit Minsk and for the traditionally warm welcome.
As it is well known, this tour is one of the first visits abroad after my re-election and taking office of president, and after the Government of the Russian Federation was formed. Thereby we wanted to underscore the importance that Russia attaches to fraternal relations with our closest neighbor, reliable ally and genuinely strategic partner.
I agree with Mr. Lukashenko that today’s talks were very productive. We, deputy prime ministers and respective ministers considered practically all key issues of the Russian-Belarusian cooperation in the economy, cultural and humanitarian area, in security and defence.
This year we will mark two important anniversaries: they are July 3, when we will jointly celebrate the 80th anniversary of liberating Belarus from Nazi invaders. This is our common victory. We do remember what price we had to pay for it and we cherish the memory of our fathers, grandfathers and great- grandfathers, who defended the life and freedom for us and the generations to come. And on December 8, the Union State of Russia and Belarus will turn 25. Over the past quarter of a century we have managed to really achieve a lot on the integration tracks.
We have succeeded in implementing 28 sectoral programmes. We have unified Russian and Belarusian legislation. We have formed legal and organisational framework in many areas of our common economic space.
We have provided for the necessary conditions for conducting single macro-economic and monetary policy. Mr. Lukashenko just has mentioned it.
Pursuant to the decision of the Supreme State Council of the Union State adopted on January 29 in St Petersburg, we have identified new promising integration areas. A plan of specific actions on further deepening economic interaction, minimising losses from illegitimate Western restrictions, technologic development and import substitution is about to be endorsed.
I want to note that mutual trade has been steadily growing year after year. Russia, being the core economic partner of Belarus, accounts for about 60 percent of the Belarusian foreign trade balance. At the end of last year, trade increased by more than five percent and reached a record of 46.5 billion dollars. We count this in dollars, but meanwhile over 90 percent of all payments in Russian-Belarusian commercial transactions are made in our national currencies. It means that we can say that mutual trade and investments are protected from the impact of third countries and unfavourable trends on the world currency markets.
Russia has invested over $5 billion in the Belarusian economy. There are 2,500 Russian companies operating in the republic, with joint project being implemented in strategic sectors such as automobile and machine tools manufacturing, agricultural machinery, microelectronics, and civil aviation. Cooperation in agriculture is actively developing. The areas that are priorities for us in the agricultural complex seamlessly complement each other which provides a reliable and uninterrupted supply of food for the two countries’ people and sends agricultural surpluses to foreign markets.
Energy sector is a priority sector of bilateral cooperation. Russia traditionally supplies oil and gas to Belarus on very favourable preferential terms. In November 2023, the largest joint project was successfully completed, as Mr Lukashenko also mentioned several times during the talks: the construction of a Belarusian nuclear power plant. The station is operating at full capacity. As of today, its two units have generated more than 30 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, and we are certainly determined to continue helping our Belarusian friends develop their own nuclear industry, as well as strengthen cooperation in related high-tech sectors such as digitsation, nuclear medicine, and the creation of energy storage systems.
The railway freight volume from Belarus through Russian territory is growing: it more than doubled in 2023, exceeding 14 million tonnes. Our joint plans envisage further increase of Belarusian goods transit through Russian territory. In order to achieve this, we are increasing the capacity of transport corridors and working together to upgrade trade and logistics infrastructure.
Russian-Belarusian cultural and humanitarian cooperation is multifaceted: scientific and educational exchanges are carried out, joint programmes are being implemented for the patriotic education of youth and the preservation of common historical memory, and much is being done to create the most favourable conditions for reciprocal travel of people and for enhancing their contacts and person-to person communication.
Soon we are planning to cancel roaming service across the Union State, that is, mobile communications for all subscribers in the two countries will be fully provided in home network mode.
Considering the tensions on the outer border od the Union State, we have discussed at length the creation of a single defence state during the talks. Advanced Russian defence systems and tactical nuclear weapons reliably cover the western borders of our countries and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
We reviewed the progress in the implementation of the instructions issued we issued on holding simultaneous exercises in Russia and Belarus to practice the use of non-strategic nuclear weapons. The public was informed about it on May 9.
We also discussed the further coordination of our actions in the international arena. Let me note that Russia and Belarus have common positions on most global and regional problems and support each other at various multilateral platforms. In this context, I would like to stress that Russia has comprehensively assisted Belarus in joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as Mr President has just said. We proceed from the fact that the Astana summit in July will announce that all the necessary procedures have been completed and Belarus becomes the 10th SCO member country. This will obviously enhance the authority of the organisation and will help strengthen security and stability throughout the Eurasian space.
I also took this opportunity to share with the President of Belarus my impressions of the state visit to the People’s Republic of China I have just completed. By the way, when talking with the President of the People's Republic of China, our friend, we remembered about cooperation with Belarus and discussed it.
In conclusion, I would like to once again thank Mr Lukashenko for his hospitality and for our substantive talk. This visit will undoubtedly contribute to the further development of Russian-Belarusian allied relations in all areas.
Thank you for your attention.
Natalya Golub, Belarus-1 TV Channel: Good afternoon, President Lukashenko and President Vladimir Putin,
You mentioned that you discussed security issues. Considering the current difficult, tense situation – foreign threats and build-up of the NATO contingent – will any steps be taken in the near future to enhance security of the Union State? How do you assess exercises on the use of non-strategic nuclear arms?
Alexander Lukashenko: As I said earlier, we are not only discussing issues of our security and defence of our states. The President of Russia has just said the main thing – we have created a joint force to defend the Union State.
We are continuously watching everything unfolding on our borders. We see this and know this, starting from the building of all kinds of fences to fuelling hysteria by exercises near our borders. As I said, about 90,000 foreign troops are taking part in them. It is truly surprising what the Americans, Germans and the rest are doing on our borders.
Therefore, we give priority to security, and I will even say more than that – that many of our meetings (you have probably noticed, we meet often), 90 percent, maybe more, are about security and defence issues, with the exception of the current meeting, where we spent much time discussing the economy, even more than security issues, because the economy, among other things, is at the heart of security. This is why we have been and will continue to pay attention to it.
As for exercises you mentioned, why should we assess them? I said if you are a machine gunner… We all understand what a machine gun is used for. To attack or to defend oneself. We do not want to attack anyone. We want to defend ourselves. How can we do it? We must know how to use these weapons. These are deadly, dangerous weapons. They cannot even be compared to a machine gun. So we have to practice.
I frankly admitted that this is our third training session since the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus. The Russians might have had dozens of such training sessions -–they did not publicise them before. This is hardly surprising.
We are doing everything they [Western countries] did before us and are doing now. They are training foreign pilots. In part, the Americans are training German pilots in Germany to fly with nuclear weapons carriers – with bombs if they fly planes and with missiles. We are not doing anything special, we are getting ready, undergoing training. We must be prepared. The world is unstable and dangerous. We cannot afford to miss this strike. We cannot afford to miss an attack as we did in the middle of the past century. We will not allow this to happen and they must know about this.
But we are not fuelling tensions. We do not need war. Today we talked only about peaceful prospects. I am grateful to the President of Russia for including the head of the group of strategic initiatives in his delegation. He told us what is even hard to comprehend, but this is our near future. So we stand for peace but keep our powder dry. Nothing special.
Vladimir Putin: Actually, I have almost nothing to add. Russia has regularly conducted strategic nuclear exercises as well as manoeuvres involving its non-strategic nuclear deterrence forces, and continues to do so. The only difference is that, after deploying part of Russia’s non-strategic nuclear potential to Belarus, we began holding joint exercises with our Belarusian allies.
Second, we treat Belarus’s security the same way as the security of the Russian Federation. And this is probably the central element of our cooperation in this area.
As for our compliance with the relevant norms and obligations, Russia fully complies with every nuclear arms control obligation it has. We are not violating anything here; we are not doing anything unusual or anything that NATO doesn’t do. Mr Lukashenko has just said so. NATO countries regularly hold the same kind of exercises in areas where US tactical nuclear weapons are deployed, involving those countries’ military personnel, combat aircraft and other delivery vehicles.
What we are doing is a scheduled routine drill; I mean, we are not aiming for an escalation or anything, but, as we said, this needs to be practiced. This is a domain where we cannot allow any failures, mistakes, or incoherence. The exercise you asked about is aimed at perfecting coordination.
Kirill Vorobyov: Good afternoon, Mr Putin, Mr Lukashenko. A question from the Izvestia multimedia information centre, Kirill Vorobyov.
As you said, one of the main issues discussed today was energy security and everything it entails.
However, reports about the common energy market project are usually scarce. And just before your meeting, some of our Belarusian colleagues wrote that you appear to have found common ground and built a roadmap for this project.
Would you say it is now clear what we can expect from this project? What will we all get? Are there any other countries that might be interested in participating?
Vladimir Putin: What project?
Kirill Vorobyov: A common energy market.
Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: We cooperate in three major areas: power generation, oil and gas, and nuclear energy. We have made decisions in each of these areas, and those decisions are working well.
In oil and gas, we do have a few current issues that we discussed quite substantively today. There are no unresolved issues. We have agreed on all the parameters of gas supplies for the coming years. Yes, beyond this horizon, we will need to review our agreements to ensure that they meet the interests of both our Belarusian friends and the Russian economy. The work is proceeding as planned.
In the power industry, we have discussed general operating modes, cross-flows and so on; it all works smoothly as well.
I have talked about our nuclear energy cooperation at length. The nuclear power plant is working, and new opportunities are opening up in related industries.
As for creating a common market, we are moving forward on this track. I have mentioned this with regard to gas. Again, everything is going according to plan; we have no disagreements here. Russian and Belarusian specialists might take slightly different approaches, but I think that by the time the common market is ready to operate, we will have agreed on every point.
Vladimir Matveyev: Good afternoon, President Lukashenko, President Putin.
I have a question about Ukraine. In view of Vladimir Zelensky’s expired presidential term, what are the prospects for resuming peace talks with Ukraine? The key question here is who to talk with even if such a request comes from the Ukrainian side?
The second part of my question: Do you see any real forces in Ukraine, political or military, that are really capable of being clear-eyed about the current situation, reaching tradeoff solutions and, most importantly, that are able to reach and honour agreements?
Vladimir Putin: Is this question for me?
Vladimir Matveyev: It is for both presidents.
Vladimir Putin: I will start, then.
Alexander Lukashenko: You know better.
Vladimir Putin: As for the negotiating process, I have discussed it many times. I would like to emphasise it once again here in Minsk: Russia has never turned these negotiations down. Moreover, we started these talks in Belarus at some point and then moved them to Istanbul, Turkiye, at the request of the Ukrainian side. We reached certain agreements and drafted an agreement. Moreover, the head of the negotiating group from Ukraine initialed an extract from the potential agreement, meaning that the Ukrainian side was overall satisfied with it, as was the Russian side. Some of its provisions needed to be finalised, but, to reiterate, since Ukraine signed this document it was happy with what it said.
For reasons that are known quite well now, after the former British Prime Minister arrived in Kiev, the Ukrainian side tossed out these agreements and stopped acting on them. Moreover, they said the talks were over. They said so publicly, we were not the ones to terminate these talks. They did it and made it illegal for themselves to continue these talks. We did not forbid anyone to negotiate, since we are in favour of negotiations.
After that, at the direction and at the behest of their Western sponsors and masters, a new goal was set to inflict a strategic defeat of Russia and achieve victory over Russia on the battlefield. The discussions about the need to resume talks are back. Let them be back, but they should return not because one country wants then to return, but they must return on the basis of the principled agreements that had been reached during the difficult talks in Belarus and Turkiye, and on the basis of today’s realities on the ground. We are ready for this.
Who to negotiate with? This is certainly not an idle question, I agree. Of course, we realise that the current head of state is no longer legitimate. I think one of the goals of the conference to be held in Switzerland is precisely to have the Western community and sponsors of the Kiev regime confirm the legitimacy of the current head of state, or no longer the current head of state.
But these PR steps are irrelevant for legal documents. But if it comes to this, we will, of course, have to and I proceed from the premise that peace talks must be resumed and not via ultimatums but via common sense. They must rest on common sense. But if it comes to this, we, of course, must understand with whom we need and can deal with a view to signing legally binding documents. In this case, we must be absolutely sure that we are dealing with the legitimate authorities. This question must be answered in Ukraine itself, primarily, I think, by its parliament, the Constitutional Court or some other government authorities.
As far as I know, we must look at what is written in the Constitution of Ukraine, which government bodies have the right to be extended under the Constitution of Ukraine without elections and electoral procedures, and which cannot count on these rights. This may be done through a judicial analysis. These are questions for the Ukrainian political and legal systems.
Alexander Lukashenko: I absolutely agree with what Mr Putin has just said.
As for the expiration of Vladimir Zelensky’s powers, there is no legal clarity on this issue. Nor can there be any because as you understand they have deep democracy and everything has been stifled. I and we are often reproached or being dictators. Some others are also accused of this. Here is democracy in action: neither the Constitutional Court nor other courts can say anything. Therefore, the legal clarity that the President of Russia was talking about is ruled out in this situation.
As for war and peace – the main issues mentioned by Mr Putin as well – what importance do they have? In any case, I believe neither the current nor the future president will resolve these major questions that the state and the people of Ukraine are facing. You know who will resolve them: many have already been resolved overseas and they will resolve later what is still outstanding. The President of Russia has just presented evidence of this. When someone unknown came and ordered, the agreements were crossed out. It was hard to reach them but they were put on paper and initialed. So, this was the result. I myself thoroughly analysed these problems about Vladimir Zelensky’s authority but now I understood that all this is pointless.
As for the real force in Ukraine, you know Ukraine well – its society before the special military operation and now. There are more forces there now and everyone thinks of himself as a hero – those whose position we support and those whom we do not support. Once again, I have to recall that they have democracy. There are enough people there both among the military and civilians willing to head the country and lead it to war or against war in a new way.
The situation evolves as it evolves. I think this year will determine much. We will wait and see; we are not in any rush, and less so is Russia. We have a common position; we are not hiding it and we will work together.
Sargon Hadaya: Good afternoon, Mr President.
Sargon Hadaya, Russia Today.
May I ask you, how, in your opinion, the death of the Iranian President can affect bilateral relations, cooperation in regional organisations and in the military area?
And let me touch on the second aspect. I can see a somewhat strange trend regarding all the leaders who disagree with the collective West. The Prime Minister of Georgia has recently said that one of the EU commissioners threatened him with the fate of the Slovakian Prime Minister if the Foreign Agents Law is passed. What do you think about this? Is this a new world order or a new policy of the collective West? Thank you.
Vladimir Putin: I cannot comment on what some EU commissioner said. There are many commissioners and they are constantly being changed and talking rubbish, you know. If it is as you have said, it just cannot be called anything but political rubbish. It is simply outrageous. That’s that.
Unfortunately, the irresponsibility of mid-level officials, especially in this area, is growing. We are often facing it ourselves. This is only regrettable.
I cannot comment on anything in this respect, but as for Iran’s foreign policy, these are the country’s sovereign decisions. Iran is a major regional power that plays a noticeable role in the world affairs; however, we are unlikely to face any changes in the policy of the Iranian leadership after that tragedy, meaning that the fundamentals of the Iranian statehood are steady, solid and reliable enough.
We have established very good relations with Iran as a state, with the Iranian people, and with the Iranian leadership. In this regard, I personally cannot see any possibility of serious changes, whatever they may be; but, of course, I expect the continuity of Iran’s policy regarding Russia and our cooperation on key international issues to be preserved.
Alexander Lukashenko: As for the death of our good friend, I met with Mr Raisi more than once and think the President of Russia will support me. He was a normal, kind person who conducted a sincere and honest dialogue with us and was concerned over the development of his own state and the protection of the interests of his people.
What was it, what happened – there is much talk about this now. I think Iran is a country that will find out what happened there. But as a man, not as a president, I will say – this is a result of an atrocious and disgusting US position. I am primarily referring to sanctions. These scoundrels had no right to impose sanctions against aircraft, jets, helicopters and other vehicles that carry people. As I remember, they have introduced sanctions against aircraft in Russia, against us, against my jet. They will not get to President Putin – he has a Russian-built jet, but they have imposed sanctions here.
Is it normal? People are traveling. You have sold this helicopter after all. It does not matter whether it is 40 or 50 years old. Maybe it made only three flights in 50 years and would have been okay if it were serviced properly. But they banned their companies from servicing it. They are in part to blame for this. They are all believers, and if they are – they will ultimately face a response. This is not the way to behave in the world.
This shows once again the efforts that Russia and other countries that support it are taking for the unipolar world to fall apart. A multipolar world will emerge. These insane people are only bringing it close by their actions. Who likes this?
They didn’t like something and stole money, in this case from Russia, and not only from it. They didn’t like something and arrested a vessel, seized a tanker and took the goods. They think they can do anything because they are strong. I am not a mystic, but what I am saying is if they are believers they will ultimately answer for all these doings and answer in full. They will not hide across the ocean.
They are to blame for this if nothing had affected the helicopter – probably nothing affected it and they will be taken to task. They prohibited the servicing of this helicopter – this is for sure. I know this from my own experience.
Vladimir Putin: Incidentally, I think their attendants flew in two Russian helicopters, right? These Russian-built helicopters were flying without any extreme conditions.
Alexander Lukashenko: In the same conditions.
Vladimir Putin: They were flying in the same conditions and actually in the same corridor without any problems.
Thank you.
Alexander Lukashenko: Thank you.