Lavrov discussed defense and military-technical cooperation with Lukashenka and the Belarusian Foreign Ministry

The recently intensified cooperation between Russia and Belarus in the defense and military-technical sphere allows the two countries to be ready “for any development of events.” This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. “Those agreements that the two presidents [Владимир Путин и Лукашенко] achieve in the field of our military-technical, military, defense cooperation, are very, very timely in terms of readiness for any development of events,” Lavrov said during a visit to Minsk on January 19.

After the meeting with the Belarusian leader, Lavrov took part in a meeting of the collegiums of the foreign ministries of the two countries (the next one will be held in Moscow in the fourth quarter). The Belarusian side at the meeting was headed by the new Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Aleinik, who took office on December 13, 2022. Among the issues are the interaction between Minsk and Moscow in the field of arms control, coordination of the actions of the two countries in the OSCE (which is “rapidly and clearly degrading”) and in relations with the EU, as well as with NATO and the CE. Lavrov said that both Moscow and Minsk believe that the “collective West” has actually “turned Ukraine into a springboard for further military-political development of the post-Soviet space for subversive activities against the Union State.”