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The discussion centred on the latest developments in promoting strategic cooperation and allied relations between Russia and Belarus with a focus on integration within the Union State.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Lukashenko, friends,

I am delighted to have this meeting at the Kremlin today on this solemn occasion, and a very pleasant one too.

As you know, you will receive the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called today, the highest state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was Peter the Great who established this order to honour outstanding achievements and service. I will elaborate on this point later. Today, we are honouring your outstanding accomplishments in strengthening bilateral relations between Russia and Belarus. You have done a great deal in this domain, as I will explain shortly.

But right now, we have an opportunity to discuss developments in our bilateral relations, as well as our efforts to build the Union State. I want to note that we meet quite often, but still there has been a lot of positive momentum. In fact, our trade and economic ties have been demonstrating the best possible results and solid growth rates. According to the statistics we have, trade has totalled US$46.5 billion, which is equivalent to 4.2 trillion rubles, if I am not mistaken, while the figures reported by Belarus are even higher.

As for investment, it stands at US$4.5 billion, with Russia leading in direct investment in the Belarusian economy.

We continue to expand our cooperation in manufacturing and have been working together in agriculture as well. Recently, over the past twelve to eighteen months, we have been active in the microelectronics sector. There are new opportunities in aircraft manufacturing and the aviation industry, as we have said on numerous occasions.

Even back in the Soviet era, people called Belarus the Soviet Union’s assembly plant. And it is thanks to your efforts that Belarus has retained these economic and industrial capabilities and advantages. This enables us to be complementary and to advance together in these and several other sectors.

We are delighted to see you. Yesterday, we had the opportunity to discuss the developments in the post-Soviet space in a somewhat larger format, with our colleagues from the CIS. Today, I suggest that we focus on our bilateral relations.

Once again, I am very glad to see you. Thank you for coming here and paying us a visit.

President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko: Mr Putin, once again, thank you for the invitation.

Yesterday and the day before, we had the opportunity to discuss global issues and hot zones on this planet. I was glad to see – and, hopefully, you were too – that we did not have any disagreements with respect to the international agenda. We also discussed internal issues, in a frank conversation without beating around the bush.

You spoke at length about Azerbaijan-Armenia settlement. To my surprise, all of this was received positively, which indicates that extensive prior efforts have already been made.

Yesterday, we discussed global and regional matters and there was also much unanimity. I said yesterday, what do we have left of the CIS? But it turns out, we have nine extremely powerful and wealthy states. This powerful regional association could be effective through our substantial efforts.

As concerns our relations, the biggest conclusion – and I believe you will agree – is that the West has set a goal to strangle us, first and foremost economically and financially. Their plan has been unsuccessful. They have already admitted this themselves, so we do not even need to assert this fact.

As you rightly noted, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, we focused on preserving and developing what we had. That has proven highly beneficial. Today, we work together in many industries and produce goods. They are mainly in demand in the Russian Federation. Russia needs the goods we produce, from agriculture to microelectronics, as you rightly said. Two years ago, even before this conflict, we agreed to strengthen cooperation across many issues with the future in mind, which is what we are doing today.

You correctly said that the world is changing at a surreal pace, with new threats arising, but also new opportunities for us. Naturally, there are issues that need to be addressed. Every time we meet, as journalists call it, for an in-person meeting, half of our discussions concern internal affairs, the well-being of Belarusians and Russians, as well as security.

I believe there are very few, perhaps two or three, issues that we will discuss today – essentially clarifying a few details and moving on in our relations.

Thank you for the invitation.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.