President Vladimir Putin and Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke by phone on Dec. 2. The Kremlin readout revealed almost nothing about their conversation but according to the Minsk side, the two Presidents “compared notes” in anticipation of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, the EAEU’s highest body, consisting of the member nations’ heads of state and government, which will take place in Kyrgyzstan on Dec. 9, 2022. They “also discussed the international situation and the situation around Belarus and Russia. They spoke at length about the evolving situation and about the coordination of joint actions. Progress of the special military operation in Ukraine was also reviewed.” (https://eng.belta.by/president/view/new-details-of-phone-conversation-between-lukashenko-putin-revealed-155143-2022/)
The presidential phone conversation was followed on Dec. 3, by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu flying to Minsk to meet with Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin. According to the Russian Defense Ministry readout, they signed a protocol amending the interstate agreement on joint provision of regional security in the military sphere. “The Republic of Belarus has been and remains our reliable partner,” Shoigu said. “This is especially important today, amid unprecedented pressure from the collective West and an undeclared war against our countries.”
Shoigu met afterwards with President Lukashenko, who told him, among other things, that Russian troops in Belarus and Belarusian troops are training as one force. “I should say we have approached this matter very seriously. Both our and your officers train Belarusian and Russian soldiers, so that, if necessary, our defenders of the Union State could repel any aggression,” said the President.
He went on, “everything is done the way we agreed with the Russian President. You are not just fully aware of it. You are implementing it with our Defense Ministry. We are fulfilling the plans we have agreed upon.”
