Lukashenka appreciates joint work with the Russian Federation to overcome sanctions pressure

As a result of joint efforts, Russia and Belarus were able to overcome the possible negative consequences of Western sanctions, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Minsk, write “RIA News”.

“Thanks to joint steps, we generally managed to overcome the possible negative effects of sanctions pressure. Specialists from Belarus and Russia have done a good job on allied programs. There are certain advances in almost all areas,” Lukashenka said.

At the same time, according to Lukashenka, not everything has worked out yet. “On a number of sensitive topics, the governments have exhausted their negotiating opportunities,” he said, noting that during today’s meeting these issues will again be discussed in a broad format. The governments of the countries stated that it was impossible to agree on certain controversial areas without the intervention of the presidents, Lukashenka explained.

The Belarusian president said that recently defense and security have become priority areas in the course of discussions at the highest level between Moscow and Minsk. According to Lukashenko, the heads of state previously agreed to discuss key socio-economic issues of bilateral relations in December.

“I propose to work productively in strategic areas that can determine the near future of Belarus and Russia. It has become a tradition to remove problematic issues on the eve of the New Year,” Lukashenka said.

December 15 Putin at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects declaredthat with the help of unprecedented sanctions, Western countries wanted to “crush” the Russian economy, but their calculations did not materialize. Putin attributed the failure of the West’s plans to the composure of Russian entrepreneurs and authorities, as well as the solidarity of Russians.