MOSCOW. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Minsk has confirmed plans by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet this week, identifying security and countering sanctions among as the main topics of the talks.
"Indeed, the meeting has been announced. As for what exactly will be on the agenda, I can say that amid the tense military and political situation, there will definitely be security issues in both the applied and broad context. There will also definitely be talks on joint steps to ensure the national interests of the two countries. They will obviously discuss the topic of illegal unilateral restrictive measures, which are being undertaken by the West," Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anatoly Glaz said on the Rossiya-24 television channel.
The diplomat added that the Russian-Belarusian summits "traditionally pay most attention to trade and economic issues, which has been supplemented with the implementation of the Union State programs in recent years."
"It is no secret that with the depth and intensity of our bilateral relations, the Russian and Belarusian presidents discuss a wide range of issues at their meetings. No matter who said what, no matter what hypotheses were put forward, no matter what analyses were conducted, the level of relations between the heads of our states allows us to talk about any topic," the Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesperson added.