Official website of the President of Russia

Transcripts   /

Question: Good afternoon.

Congratulations on Victory Day! Today, it coincides with the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Sevastopol.

Alexander Lukashenko: And soon, we will be marking the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus.

Question: But these are not the only things we are discussing these days. We cannot fail to mention the heroes of our time, those who are taking part in the special military operation. Do you have a message for them?

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Yesterday we worked together long into the night.

Alexander Lukashenko: Until 3 am, as usual.

Vladimir Putin: We discussed our bilateral relations and talked about what is going on along the line of contact, as well as the situation with the challenging developments in Ukraine. We talked to the Defence Minister, as well as the Chief of the General Staff, which goes to show that this was a serious meeting. Of course, we went over what is happening along the line of contact, as I have already said. I informed Mr Lukashenko about my meeting with the unit commanders on May 7 who distinguished themselves by their service recently. We had much to discuss during our meeting. Of course, we talked about our men, those who are on the frontlines and noted their heroism, courage, valour and what they have achieved on the battlefield.

Question: Have the presidents made a decision to hold military exercises on the use of tactical nuclear weapons?

Vladimir Putin: This is not about using these weapons. This is an exercise.

Alexander Lukashenko: Like a training session.

Vladimir Putin: There are tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. For this reason, we offered our friends and allies to join us, and the President of Belarus also asked us to ensure that his country takes part in one of the stages of these drills. We hold regular exercises of this kind, and they take place in three stages. Our Belarusian colleagues will join us in the second stage. We have instructed our defence ministers and chiefs of general staff accordingly. They have been working together to make the necessary preparations.

Alexander Lukashenko: We completed stage one independently from one another. Yesterday, we decided to synchronise our efforts in order to hold stages two and three together. Mr Putin was right to say that this is not the first time we do this. In fact, this is the third time we hold exercises of this kind. Of course, Russia has held these exercises dozens of times, so we will align our efforts. I have been informed by the Defence Minister of Russia that our respective general staffs have already taken these instructions on board.

Vladimir Putin: [Valery] Gerasimov reported on this matter yesterday.

Alexander Lukashenko: He did.

Vladimir Putin: This goes to show that there is nothing unusual about this. It is just routine work.

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