The visit of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to Russia will take place on Monday, September 14, said the press secretary of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov.
The Kremlin said that a meeting between Putin and Lukashenko would take place in Sochi and plans for further integration, as well as major trade and energy projects, would be discussed.
“It is planned to discuss the most important issues of the Russia-Belarus strategic partnership and the further development of the alliance,” the Kremlin said.
Putin has long expressed a desire to unite Russia and Belarus, and his recent offers of military and economic assistance to Minsk have been accompanied by calls for closer integration.
“There will be a working visit, he will talk to President Putin,” Peskov told reporters in the negative about whether the talks would lead to the signing of any documents.
According to him, there will be no press conference after the talks. Peskov promised that the Kremlin would inform about the main results of the talks between Putin and Lukashenko.
Protests have been going on in Belarus for a month, demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. He is accused of falsifying the results of the August 9 presidential election in order to stay in power.
Lukashenko has sought help in Moscow, which has also recently shown increased support for the Lukashenko regime.
This will be Lukashenko’s first visit to Russia since the protests began.
Last week, Lukashenko said that talks with Putin were planned to discuss sensitive issues for both countries.
Belarus and Russia have formed a union that connects the economies and armies of both countries, but the Kremlin wants even closer integration.
On Thursday, Russian Ambassador Dmitry Mezencev presented a book with historical maps showing Belarus as part of the Russian Empire as a gift to Lukashenko.
Several political scientists believe that Moscow will try to take advantage of the difficult situation in which Lukashenko has found himself in order to make concessions from him.
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