A. Lukashenko and D. Medvedev agreed to resolve the existing problems in Belarusian-Russian relations in the near future

August 23, Minsk /BelTA/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev agreed to resolve the existing problems in Belarusian-Russian relations in the near future. This agreement was reached during a meeting of the heads of state on August 22 in Sochi, the press service of the Belarusian leader reported.

Alexander Lukashenko and Dmitry Medvedev communicated for about two and a half hours. During this time, the heads of state discussed a number of serious issues and communicated in an informal setting.

The leaders of the two countries took a critical approach to assessing the state of Belarusian-Russian relations and stated that they do not correspond to the status of strategic partnership. Specific problems were identified, which, in their mutual opinion, should be resolved in the near future. The presidents agreed that, starting from this meeting, they would take a number of practical steps to restore the high level of partnership between the two countries.

In this regard, the head of the Russian state particularly emphasized that Belarusians and Russians are fraternal peoples, bound by close ties, and know what needs to be done to prevent a rupture of fraternal relations.

The meeting discussed the entire range of bilateral relations, including within the framework of integration associations.

The President of Belarus particularly noted the need to ensure the unconditional full functioning of the Single Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia from January 1, 2012. Belarus incurred significant costs by joining this project, but the idea of the SES was consciously supported, as it is important to create equal conditions for enterprises and citizens in this space.

The Russian President expressed principled agreement with the position of his Belarusian counterpart.

During the conversation, the topic of union building was discussed. The heads of state spoke about the need to intensify relations within the framework of the Union State of Belarus and Russia. They preliminarily agreed to hold the Supreme State Council of the Union State in November this year. The heads of presidential administrations have been tasked with the specific elaboration of this issue.

The construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus was discussed. Following the conversation, instructions were given to the head of the Russian state corporation for atomic energy "Rosatom" Sergey Kiriyenko to ensure the signing of all relevant agreements on construction and the allocation of credit resources in September of this year, similar to the scheme and conditions adopted by the Russian side during the construction of the NPP in the Kaliningrad region.

The presidents also substantively discussed a number of other specific issues of Belarusian-Russian cooperation.

Developing the conversation held at the informal summit of the heads of state of the Collective Security Treaty Organization member states in Astana, Alexander Lukashenko and Dmitry Medvedev discussed the effectiveness of the CSTO's functioning. In particular, measures to equip the Collective Operational Response Forces with modern weaponry, the conditions for the functioning of foreign military bases in the territories of the organization's member states, issues of deploying the CORF formations in the CSTO responsibility zone, as well as regulations for decision-making in the organization, taking into account the special position of Uzbekistan, were discussed in detail.

It is expected that these proposals will be formalized in the form of relevant decisions in December of this year at the next session of the CSTO Collective Security Council.

The presidents paid great attention to issues of the international situation, including the situation in the Middle East and the Middle East, and in Europe.

Alexander Lukashenko and Dmitry Medvedev discussed in detail the prospects for cooperation of the countries with Ukraine.

The President of Belarus informed his Russian counterpart in detail about the results of the visit of the Belarusian delegation to Qatar and the agreements reached during the negotiations. Alexander Lukashenko also informed Dmitry Medvedev about the prospects for cooperation with Venezuela.

The meeting of the presidents was held in an open, friendly, and constructive atmosphere.-0-