Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukasheko announced today that he’ll be meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg very soon, and is also planning a visit to China. His visit occurs in the context of the Dec. 25-26 informal meeting of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and of a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in the same time frame, TASS reported.
According to the Belarus news agency BeLTA, Lukashenko said that in his meeting with Putin “we’ll discuss all the issues that need to be discussed at our level.” He was hosting a meeting on the development of mechanical engineering in Belarus and told participants, “we agreed with Russia to synchronize our cooperation in the automotive industry and other sectors. I would ask you to strictly adhere to our agreements with the Russian Federation. You need to keep in mind that Russia, too, is having difficult times.”