MINSK. March 2 (Interfax) - Belarus wishes to spend the balance of the Russian loan for the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant on military needs, including the procurement of military planes from Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"I remember the Russian president's promise. I only said [at the meeting with President Vladimir Putin on February 22] that, unless this strains the Russian economy, we would like to spend the balance of that loan, in particular, on military needs. Perhaps, on the procurement of planes and modern hardware. There were no objections," the Belarusian state-run news agency BelTA quoted Lukashenko as saying.
As reported earlier, the balance of the $10-billion loan stands at about $3 billion.