President of Russia to visit Minsk first time in many years

Time itself has forced our countries to reach a qualitatively new level of interaction. And the main wish of the Belarusian side here is to work on equal terms. As soon as it becomes known about the meeting of Lukashenko and Putin, there appeareda lot of insinuations about it, from conspiracy theories to alarmist speculations: surrendering sovereignty, incorporation, and so on. It is clear that this wave of negativity is sent by those to whom we are a bone in the throat with our integration.

Alexander Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus:

“Many of us are starting to whisper that Russia puts unacceptable conditions for us with regard to our independence and sovereignty. I am absolutely frank: regardless of all the difficulties, if the Russian Federation and its leadership want to build relations with the sovereign independent state of Belarus, if Russia perceives us as a sovereign and independent state, we are ready to build relations. But we must always proceed from the fact that we are a sovereign and independent state. Yes, we are with Russia as a sovereign and independent state. I say this calmly, knowing the position of the President of Russia. We are not even discussing this issue right now. We have cut it off once and agreed on how we are going to proceed by signing these 28 programs. There is no encroachment on our sovereignty and independence in any program there. But we will never be the enemies of Russia. It is the country which is the closest to us, the people which are the closest to us. I think that as long as we are in power, we will keep this tendency. If it were otherwise, it would be like in Ukraine. Everyone understands this, but not everyone can talk about it. Those who run away, they have to earn money to live on. Someone gave them money, told them how to say it, they talk. So sovereignty and independence are immutable. And any talk of us or there is a betrayal of the interests of the Belarusian people.”