Russian President Vladimir Putin, along with a delegation of senior Russian government officials, traveled to Minsk today for meetings with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials. The meeting had been proposed after discussions at the ministerial level, in which some issues between the two countries were not completely resolved. There was a general meeting which included members of the cabinet and then a one-on-one meeting between the two Presidents.
Much of the discussion centered around the economic cooperation between Moscow and Minsk, which is extensive and has increased considerably since the two countries have been isolated from much of the rest of the world. Russia committed to finishing a nuclear plant they are building in Belarus and have extended cooperation in the nuclear field between the two parties. They also committed to cooperating in space, with Putin promising that there would soon be a Belarus cosmonaut chosen. Putin also pointed to the importance of the Russian relationship in import substitution, given the restrictions placed on Russia by the Western nations. Moreover he reiterated an invitation to the Belarus President to visit the Russian space facilities before an upcoming CIS meeting.
And as one would expect there was also a serious discussion of the military and security situation. In public remarks, Putin said that Moscow and Belarus are developing military-technical cooperation through collaboration and joint projects. “They include military-technical cooperation, which is not reduced to mutual supplies. It implies, and I think it is very important, joint projects, development and collaboration in this sphere, including the promotion of high-tech industries and production lines,” he said, reported TASS. “And the same applies to the space sector. We have corresponding plans there.” Putin made the point that their cooperation is no different than the type of cooperation that exists between the countries in NATO in discussing their mutual defense.
