Vladimir Putin and Aleksandr Lukashenko discussed the results of building the Union State and the conduct of joint exercises

On December 29 in St Petersburg, during a bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, the parties discussed the bilateral relations between Russia and Belarus in the outgoing year and the results of building the Union State, which has made significant progress.
Kremlin.ru quotes Russian President Vladimir Putin, “We have approved 28 programmes for the Union State development. These key elements might not be noticeable at first, but they are quite substantial in the context of expanding modern international and close integration processes between both states. First, this concerns financial matters, taxation, customs and fiscal legislation. This is very important; it will create better conditions for developing the economy of both countries.”
Vladimir Putin noted that in 2020, the pandemic has led to a drop in bilateral trade volumes by almost 17 percent, “but they rebounded and grew by almost 36 percent this year. In effect, we have compensated for our 2020 losses…” “And we have added more,” stressed the President of the Republic of Belarus.
“We have serious plans for implementing our interaction,” noted Vladimir Putin. “I would also like to thank you for invariably supporting these processes, and I hope that we will continue to maintain the same productive cooperation in 2022, as well.”
For his part, Aleksandr Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Belarus, drew attention to cooperation in the military-industrial complex and to the issue of joint exercises using state-of-the-art equipment.
“I asked you not to stop our joint exercises, while also creating training centres for teaching our military to use the latest military equipment we buy from Russia. We are doing this, so the exercises must also carry on,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko. He stressed that proposals from the Belarusian side to hold exercises on the Republic’s territory are being considered. “I would like you to decide on this matter. This would benefit Belarus-Russia relations,” said the President of the Republic of Belarus.
According to Vladimir Putin, the exercises will take place within the timeframe agreed by the militaries of the two states. “As you suggested, we will hold exercises at the beginning of the year. The military command will coordinate the dates – in March or February – I don’t know when they will decide.”