Official website of the President of Russia

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Vladimir Putin: I’m very pleased to welcome you to Moscow. Thank you for accepting my invitation. A number of questions have piled up and I think this is the right moment for “synchronising our watches” on integration problems and disputed issues. At the same time, despite all the arguments, work is progressing. And in general, it is moving in a positive direction. As you know, as part of solving the issues connected with the transition to a single currency, the Russian Central Bank has transferred another tranche of 1.5 billion roubles for the stabilisation of the Belarusian national currency.

We are doing quite well in implementing the former agreements in the energy sphere. By and large, I repeat, despite the arguments, there is noticeable and evident progress. The Prime Ministers are actively preparing for a meeting of the Council of Ministers. And I think that we too should discuss it in order to form the agenda in such a way as to include the relevant issues and ultimately solve them.

In general, I think we have things to discuss and I would like to cordially welcome you to Moscow once again.

Alexandr Lukashenko: Thank you for the opportunity to discuss the acute problems that have arisen recently. They need to be addressed. The issues do not get so much coverage in the media and may not be very well-known to our citizens. I would like to confirm that in the economic sphere, despite all the odds, our trade and economic relations have grown 103.5–105%. That is the growth in trade we will have.

I will take this opportunity to publicly say a couple of things. I have already said it in Belarus, but unfortunately, it has not been reported in Russia and it has apparently not reached you.

Recently, the media in my country and in Russia have been suggesting that there are major problems with the building of the Union State and that Belarus has allegedly decided to change course. I have already said and I repeat here for all the Russian people to know that Belarus and Russia are building their relations proceeding from objective reasons which even you and I are unable to change. Our peoples are close, and we proceed from that. Our economies are integrated, which is what we are doing now. So, there is no question about changing Belarus’ course with regard to our fraternal state. That would be suicidal, as I have already said.

There is another topic that is debated in the media. Recently, I have been reading all the newspapers and articles about Belarus that are published in Russia. We follow that very closely. They are pushing the line that Russia is giving up Belarus under Western pressure. What do we make of it in Belarus? We see it this way: of course, the Soviet Union, the great power that kept up balance in the world no longer exists. Of course, we have grown weaker. You have said it frequently and we are aware that in a certain sense we have grown weaker. We have not grown weaker spiritually or morally, because moral strength has always been a feature of our peoples. And politics in general requires compromises, even sometimes concessions. But to respond to the idea that is introduced in the minds of our people regarding Russia’s surrender of Belarus, I would like to say the following: Russians and Belarusians have always seen Belarus as the final frontier from which there could be no retreat, no matter how hard the pressure, and it has never happened in history. And we believe that today Belarus for the Russian man is the frontier which he would never retreat from. He would never surrender it. Russia has nowhere to retreat because Moscow is behind it. So we are relaxed about the noise that comes from our enemies.

And the third thing. I am aware of an initiative by our ill-wishers, although you probably do not yet know about it. They are trying to start a quarrel between us, to drive a wedge in our personal relations in order to torpedo some processes that we initiated together – good and useful processes for the sake of our peoples. I would like to repeat that we are both far too responsible to allow ourselves to be pushed to the opposite side of the barricades. We will do everything, and I am sure because I know your position, everything in the interests of our peoples. And we will do it even though some people in our country and here and perhaps beyond don’t want it. This is what I wanted to tell you personally so that the journalists hear it and, if they feel like it, convey it to the Russian people, that Belarus has always been and will always be a true friend of the Russians.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. You know my position very well. Like any other country in the post-Soviet space, Belarus is an independent state and it has the right to choose its domestic and foreign policies and determine their principles. But the fact that you have reaffirmed (as I had no doubt you would) the commitment of Belarus to integration in the post-Soviet space, above all with Russia, sends us an important signal.

During the past decade Russia has given away so much that the question of whether or not we should surrender anything is irrelevant. We will take things back, but only within the universally accepted international norms and within the framework of the agreements that meet the national interests both of the Russian Federation and our partners. We will move towards integration because of the objective needs and historical laws and national interests of our countries. We have done a lot, and thank God nothing has been lost. I am sure we will still accomplish a great deal within the framework of the Union State in the Commonwealth of Independent States together with all our CIS partners. And I think we should think of ourselves as part of Europe. I am sure we will work together with our partners in the other part of Europe, together with the EU and those countries which are not yet its members. In any case, Russian foreign policy is absolutely open and transparent and that is how we will approach all our partners, including Belarus.