MINSK. May 24 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he plans to discuss security and Belarus' involvement in the non-strategic nuclear weapon exercise with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during a visit to Minsk.
"A lot has been done [in Russia-Belarus] relations by our colleagues [government members from both countries] lately with your direct participation and support. We will discuss all of that today and tomorrow, including security matters you give much attention to. We have things to discuss in this area. Everything is stable and going well for us," Putin said while meeting Lukashenko at the Minsk Airport.
Putin said he also planned to discuss Belarus' participation in the non-strategic nuclear weapons exercise. "We will talk about the second phase of the exercise. This concerns the direct involvement of our Belarusian friends, military colleagues, in this event," he said.
"Thank you for the opportunity to arrive in the evening, have a casual conversation, talk. I had a meeting with government members after negotiations with our Arab friends, we talked specifically about my visit to you," Putin said.
He said they discussed practically every area of cooperation with Minsk, including industrial cooperation, energy, agriculture and security, and added that certain Russian government members would come to Minsk on Friday for talks.