Contents tagged with Lukashenko

  • Lukashenko: Belarus has closed its border with Ukraine due to the weapons flow

    Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, during his speech at international anti-terrorist conference in Minsk, said that Minsk was forced to tighten border control with Ukraine because of the flow of weapons, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

    "We had to close the border completely with our brothers and close people [in Ukraine], even more than with the North Atlantic bloc, which for us has always, for a long time, allegedly seemed to be the number one enemy," Lukashenko said.

    According to him, the …

  • Draft program of integration with Russia handed over to Lukashenko for approval

    The press secretary of the Belarusian Prime Minister Alexandra Isaeva said that the draft action program on integration with Russia that was prepared by the Belarussian government had been handed for approval to the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, reports RBC news agency.

    The integration of countries is based on the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State, which was signed in 1999. In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow and Minsk would choose acceptable ways for …

  • President of Belarus will not attend World War II commemoration in Poland out of solidarity with Putin

    Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported why the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko refused Poland’s invitations to take in commemorative events dedicated to 80th anniversary of the beginning of the World War II.According to the newspapers source in Minsk, by not going to Poland, Lukashenko expressed solidarity with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was not invited by Polish President Andrzej Duda.Instead of Lakashenko, the Belarusian Ambassador to Poland will participate in these …

  • Lukashenko orders to resolve integration issues between Belarus and Russia

    The Prime Minister of Belarus Sergey Rumas said that the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko ordered to accelerate the integration process with Russia.

    The two countries will have to agree on several issues on integration, the Prime Minister explained.

    After that, the development of "road maps" will start, and they should be ready by November. Then, these documents will be presented to Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Rumas didn't specify which aspects two …

  • Kremlin: Belarus must transition to a single currency with Russia

    Belarus and Russia must transition to a single currency, said Russia’s Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko in a broadcast of Belarus’s TV channel, ONT.

    During a visit to Belarus, which took place four days after Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko spoke to each other in Valaam, Matviyenko said than no one in Russia has even brought up the topic of merging the two countries.

    “This is a union of states, but it needs to be a full-fledged union,” she emphasized.

    “Full-fledged …

  • Kremlin to rewrite Russian constitution to keep Putin in power

    Russia’s senior leaders are continuing to prepare the population for an extensive revision of the constitution that will reshape the country’s institutes of government authority for the first time in 30 years.

    The idea of changing the constitution, outlined in autumn last year by Constitutional Court Chairperson Valery Zorkin, was entrusted to State Duma Chairperson Vyacheslav Volodin to promote.

    For the second time in half a year, Volodin, former deputy head of the presidential …

  • President of Belarus Lukashenko rules out union with Russia, borrows $600 million from China

    The Belarusian government is concluding negotiations to borrow $600 million from China, announced Belarusian Deputy Finance Minister Andrei Belkovets.

    “Initially we were counting on a loan from the Russian Federation,” Belkovets noted, while talking at the Fitch conference in Minsk. The loan would have been roughly the same amount - $630 million.

    But the money was tied up. On April 1, after several rounds of intergovernmental talks following President Lukashenko’s visit to the Kremlin bearing …

  • US extends sanctions against Lukashenko and a number of Belarusian officials

    US President Donald Trump has extended sanctions against a number of Belarusian officials for one more year, the press service of the White House said.

    The corresponding document addressed to the US Congress is posted on the White House website.

    The document states that, “The actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Belarus and other persons continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

    “For this …

  • Belarus hopes that it will maintain good relations with Ukraine after Poroshenko's departure

    Minsk hopes that Ukraine has a clear understanding of the importance of relationships with Belarus, stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei during the conference that was dedicated to the decade of the Eastern Partnership, BelTA reports.

     "I talked a lot on this topic with my colleague Klimkin. I think there is a clear understanding in Ukraine that Belarus is an important partner and they should never expect any negative actions from Belarus towards Ukraine," the …

  • Lukashenko: Dirty Russian oil cost Belarus ‘hundreds of millions’

    Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that the damage caused to Belarusian companies by the “dirty” Russian oil in the Druzhba pipeline runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, BelTA reports.

    “Journalists frequently mention this figure, and they are not far from the truth,” Lukashenko commented.

    The president explained that the assessment of the damage takes into account several factors. “The damage caused to the oil pipeline, the equipment itself in the pipeline – the pumps …