Transcript: Putin and Lukashenko Hold News Conference in Moscow

There are some strategically important areas, like production of cars, car manufacturing and agricultural equipment manufacturing, and also civil aviation. And we’ve got great prospects here.

Our priority is also energy generation. Russia is supplying oil and gas to Belarus on preferential terms, and this is a great stimulus to Belarus’ economy. We have a common market of electricity.

We have completed a large project of Belarus’ nuclear power plant, and it produces over 40 percent of domestic supply for Belarus. And we will also be cooperating in the field of artificial intelligence. We will cooperate in the field of big data and creating digital systems.

Cultural and Educational Cooperation

We have also discussed our human cooperation, and we will continue to encourage mutually beneficial cooperation, cultural cooperation. We will have Intervision, which is a musical competition planned for September of this year. And this creative event was very popular in the 70s of the 20th century, and we’re bringing it back.

We have increased our cooperation in education, and we will be hosting over 12,000 students from Belarus. And next year, we will have over 1,300 Belarus students entering our universities. We will increase the involvement of our citizens in public life, and we have introduced some amendments into our 1998 agreement, which brings equality between the rights of Russian citizens and citizens of Belarus.

Russian citizens can now be elected in Belarus. And we are also celebrating the anniversary of victory in the Second World War, and we know what cost we paid, the cost of life of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers. And Alexander Lukashenko confirmed his participation in the 9th of May celebrations.

And also, a unit from Belarus will be participating in the national parade, army parade on the Red Square. Taking into account the difficult situation in the world, in Europe, and also on the borders of our countries, we have discussed a number of questions on creating a common defense area. We have Russian military placed in Belarus.

Defense and Security

We have tactical nuclear weapons and defense systems. And all of this is protecting, securely protecting the western border of our states. We have exchanged official documents on ratification of the bilateral agreement on security guarantee.

And this way, the law has been passed into force. We are determining the union obligations, mutual obligations on protecting each other using the full range of military arsenal. We have also discussed further cooperation on international arena.

And our positions are aligned on a number of major issues. And also, we talked about cooperation within the framework of CSTO, and also cooperation within SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, where Belarus has been accepted as a full member in last July. Also, Belarus has received a status of full member of BRICS.

And I would like to again thank President Lukashenko for a fruitful meeting. And this will ensure further cooperation in several areas.

[ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO:] Dear Vladimir, President Vladimir Putin, dear members of media, first of all, I would like to thank you, Mr. President, and also members of the government for this unprecedented organization, level of organization of my state visit.

Negotiations with the President of Russia, as always, were very fruitful. And we have completed only a third of our negotiations. We will continue tomorrow in order to sort out, not just to sort out our intergovernmental relations, but also to determine our prospects.

We see that time is running out very fast, and we have to ensure that we outline our future steps. As Mr. President pointed out, we have looked at priorities of the Union State for the short and medium term. We have exchanged our opinions on global situation and also on the original situation.

We have confirmed the validity of an agreement that was signed in December last year on defense, mutual defense and security. We have discussed our prospects on our cooperation, of our cooperation within Eurasian Union, and also cooperation within BRICS. And I’m very grateful, President Putin, because you have done everything that you promised.

You’ve done everything that you promised to help us enter Shanghai Cooperation Organization and also BRICS. As partners, we have now the opportunity to work and live on this platform. We will be participating in the international dialogue on a number of matters with our delegations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs has spoken on the major areas of our cooperation. You’ve always been an example for us, example of successful integration, how we should be working between the ministries. We have also talked about the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukraine Conflict

We will work on this today and tomorrow with Mr. Putin. We have discussed the prospects. And I’d like to also say that we shouldn’t be counting on too much, but we have to trust the facts. We just need to look at the facts. That’s the most important thing. And all these statements and all these promises are just empty words for now.

So we see some positive trends in the geopolitics, global geopolitics. Illegitimate sanctions of a number of states are still there, but they somehow helped us. And we agreed on this with President Putin.

Sanctions and Economic Development

We see that the pressure is still on. However, we see that this pressure backfired and affected the countries that applied that pressure and applied those sanctions. And we are confident that we will be able to overcome that pressure with time.

On the other hand, if we did not have these challenges, we would have had to invent them. They forced us to think about the importance of food security and sovereignty, many issues that we thought to be insurmountable, for example, microelectronics, creating chips, microchips. It turns out we did have resources which we undervalued.

We have located them. We are developing them. President Putin, we value your support, which ensured access to your market, to the Russian market. We were able to rearrange our logistics. Whatever we used to sell through Latvian ports and Lithuanian ports, we are now redirecting through St. Petersburg port. We have completely rearranged our logistics.

And we continue to work in this direction. The potential of our transportation system is great. And we will be using these opportunities, first of all, the opportunities that are provided by the railways.

We have millions of tons of cargo, which we can load, first of all, in St. Petersburg. But it looks like maybe our railway is overloaded at this moment in time. Maybe we have to move to other ports. And we started to work on this. And we will keep improving it. We are grateful to you for the statement, for your promise to build a high-speed road to Moscow.

And I said to President Putin that this is not my first election, but this is an indication of how people vote. So you have East, you have West, just like in Ukraine. And we had 87 percent voted for the existing president.

And this was an indication that our people voted for brotherly relations with Russia. Belarus components are now used in airplanes and cars and lorries. And we see that our lorries have replaced Western equivalents.

We know that clothes that are produced in Belarus are highly valued and known in Russia. We have also looked at some samples that we produce, samples of UAVs. And we have agreed, and we will be building a new factory producing UAVs in Belarus.

Technological Development

We have agreed that with President Putin. But we need some time for this. Together with the President of Russia, we are thinking not just to replace the import, but also to move ahead and overtake imported goods in terms of quality.

And we can achieve a technological breakthrough. And we have everything we need for this purpose. We also know where we are going. Artificial intelligence, quantum biotechnology, microelectronics, nuclear fusion, production of UAVs and other areas. What can we not do? We are doing everything that we need to do. Also, we continue developing our cooperation in the field of culture.

We have introduced amendments on the equal rights of citizens of Russia and Belarus. That means that Belarus citizens can be elected in local authorities in Russia. And Russian citizens already have that right in Belarus.

One of the most important celebrations would be the celebration of the 80th anniversary of victory in the Second World War. President Putin, thank you for being in the avant-garde on the forefront of this process. Thank you for protecting that victory that we are proud of.

This will be a great special honor for us to participate in the parade on the Red Square on the 9th of May. We value and we honor the great actions of our people in the Second World War and we will not accept rewriting history. And we see that Russia and Belarus are at the forefront of fighting for the just world order.

And these two countries have been fighting for this for a number of years. We are protecting our common values. We are helping each other to protect our national interests based on the principles of equal rights.

And we’ve agreed with the President of Russia that we will do everything possible for our people to be the best people in the world. We do not want to take anything from others, but we are not going to give away anything that belongs to us. Thank you very much, President Putin.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Questions from Media

Now we give Russian media and Belarus media the opportunity to ask questions. Not the First Channel Belarus.

[REPORTER:] Do you think that normalization of relationships between Moscow and Washington, do you think it will influence the Union State? Do you think Western companies will want to come back? And when they come back, do you think it will nullify our efforts on technological cooperation between the two countries?

[VLADIMIR PUTIN:] As for import replacement and all matters that are connected to this, with illegitimate restrictions, which are called sanctions, first of all, our so-called partners, it’s like they gave us a jab, jab of sovereignty and independence. And, of course, we will continue working on strengthening our sovereignty. We did not close our doors to anyone.

We did not throw away anyone. Those who want to come back, welcome any second. But, of course, all of this will be based on the current situation.

If the niche is already taken, it’s already taken. They will not get any preferences to come back. Moreover, within the norms of WTO, we will try to provide preference, certain preference to our domestic producers, domestic manufacturers, as for some fundamental areas that are to do with the future of our economies, industries that are to do with the future of our countries.

Of course, we will be guided by their requirements of the new technological rules. But, again, at the same time, the return of certain Western partners to our market may be beneficial, will be beneficial for them and for us. So, today, we are discussing already negotiating potential return of certain partners.

And we’ve got mutual respect and we are taking into account our mutual interests in those negotiations, but they are not public yet. President of Russia once said that we are happy to negotiate with Ukraine, but Ukrainians have to understand that we are coming back to negotiations after three years and we have to take into account the situation on the ground. So, my point of view is that we can transpose this military statement or thesis and apply it, you know, we can apply it to the civil, non-military aspect of our life.

So, we have to take into account the current situation, current facts on the ground in terms of the economy. So, we have drawn out some lessons and we have to look at what’s actually happening. If you want to come back, let’s see what’s possible.

If it is possible for them to come back, yes, we’ll accept them, but we will take the best. Also, we need to understand that over the last three years, we’ve been under a very strong pressure and we have mobilized and we have done a lot. And for this reason, we are aiming to walk in our own direction and we will only use what is of use to us.

So, we are not closing any doors. We will accept you with our new conditions, take into account the situation on the ground, and we will take only what is of need to us.

[REPORTER:] Russia First Channel. First question to President Putin. How do you estimate the readiness of Ukraine for the ceasefire? We have received some information from the Americans. And the second question, is Russia and Minsk coordinating, is Moscow coordinating its position with Minsk on this issue?

[VLADIMIR PUTIN:] As for readiness of Ukraine for the ceasefire, I’ll tell you my estimation of this.

Putin and Lukashenko Joint News Conference (Continued)

[PUTIN:] But first of all, I would like to thank the President of United States for paying so much attention to regulating the conflict in Ukraine. Of course, we all have lots of current issues to deal with. And the Chairman of China and the Prime Minister of India, heads of states of Brazil and South Africa, they are dealing with this issue and they’re paying a lot of attention to this.

And we’re grateful for this. And we’re hoping that their activity, we understand that their activity is aimed at reducing loss of human life in the conflict. Secondly, we agree with the proposals for the ceasefire.

But our position is based on the assumption that the ceasefire would lead to a long-term peace, something that would remove the initial reasons for the crisis. As for the readiness of Ukraine to ceasefire, there’s a meeting between Americans and Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia, and it looks like a decision that is taken by Ukrainian side under American pressure. In reality, I am completely convinced that Ukraine had to ask Americans to insist on this based on the situation on the ground.

The Situation in Kursk Region

And what is the situation on the ground? Some of you have noticed, maybe you’ve seen, that I went to Kursk region yesterday and I listened to the report of the chief of staff, head of severed group, commander of severed grouping on the situation in Kursk and incursion into Kursk region. What is happening there? The situation there is completely under our control and the grouping and the military grouping that entered that region is completely isolated and is under fire control. The commandment of the military, Ukrainian military, is lost.

The commanders lost on that territory a couple of weeks ago. Ukrainians were trying to leave the area in small groups, but today it is not possible. They are now trying to leave in groups of two to three people because everything is under our control.

They completely abandoned their equipment and it’s impossible to take it away. That’s guaranteed. And if there will be a physical blocking of that region within the next few days, then it will be completely impossible to leave the area.

There will be two ways to leave, either to die or to surrender. And in these conditions, in this context, I think it would be great for Ukrainian side to achieve a truce for at least 30 days and we are for it. However, there’s a nuance.

Concerns About the Proposed Ceasefire

First of all, so what is happening with that area of incursion in Kursk? If we stop our military action for 30 days, what does that mean? That means that all the people that are there, military people, Ukrainians that are there, will have the opportunity to leave without the fight. We will let them go without all these people who committed crimes. Or they’re going to surrender.

So that’s unclear. How are we going to resolve other issues? On the whole of the front line, and that’s about a thousand kilometers. And as you know, Russian military are now on the offensive on all areas of the front and they’re creating the conditions where they will be blocking or surrounding large formations of Ukraine.

So how are they going to use this 30 days? Are they going to use it in order to continue the forced mobilization in Ukraine, in order to supply weapons to those areas, in order to newly mobilized units to undergo training, or none of this is going to happen? Then we have a question. How are we going to resolve the issues of control or verification? How can we be guaranteed that none of this is going to happen in the future? How are we going to control this? I think on the level of common sense, everyone understands this. This is a very serious question.

Who is going to give orders to cease fire? And what is the value of these orders? Can you imagine about 2000 kilometers? Who is going to determine who and where violated this agreement? That’s an area of 2000 kilometers. And then who is going to blame who? The violations of this agreement. All of these are questions that need to be thoroughly studied on both sides.

So the idea in itself is correct and we support it, but there are questions that need to be discussed. And I think we need to discuss this with our American partners. Maybe we need to have a call with President Trump and discuss this.

But the idea in itself to stop this conflict in a peaceful way, that’s something that we support.

[LUKASHENKO:] I’d like to point your attention that President Putin has said more than what the question actually required. And he expanded a little bit on the issues of the future meetings with American partners.

It’s difficult to add anything, but I would like to say that we’ve got a single position with the Russian Federation. Also, all agreements that are to do with the conflict in Ukraine, we have always followed and complied with our agreements with Russia, and we will continue to comply with these agreements. It wasn’t Russia or Belarus who were the main reason for what is happening there now.

Early Attempts at Peace Negotiations

And when we began our negotiations process a few days after the start of the conflict in Gomel region, we said, let’s stop this war. And we spoke with Vladimir Zelensky, let’s not look for those who are at fault, let’s stop this now, because later you will have to be responsible for the war on the territory of Ukraine. And I said, look, remember that tomorrow the government in United States will change, and where are you going to be? And it’s like I saw the future.

And most important thing is that we are keeping the contact with Americans and with other Western powers without disclosing it, without talking about it too much. And I always said that he is an inexperienced guy, and he was just pushed to take part in that war. And when he got elected, he had all the cards in his hands, and he was in a position to stop fighting in Donbass.

And he said, how are we going to conduct the elections? And I said, look, you had all these independence, you had your currency, and what is happening now? You don’t have your currency, you’ve got people suffering, and you’ve got war going on. This is something we discussed at that time. He did promise that he would stop the war.

Why did he not fulfill his election promises? As for our position, it is a unified position. We have met with journalists, and I was talking about the future at the time when we had a meeting with journalists. And I said, if Russia and America agree on something, then it will be the end for Europe and for Ukraine.

And we see that Europe is conducting itself in a very myopic way, not looking into the future. We know our interests, we know our goals, and we’ve discussed this with President Putin. We see that Zelensky was humiliated in the White House and everywhere else.

He had to really think about sitting down and agreeing. You will see that nobody is going to help Ukraine.

So at the beginning of the war, did the Americans ask anything about the minerals? No. But now they are talking about it. They never talked about it before. They will have to comply now, and they will take all of these minerals.

And it doesn’t matter if it’s this president or a new president that comes, he will have to comply with these agreements. So let them think. So we are on the right side.

Energy Cooperation

[PUTIN:] I would like to add on the pipe, the pipe for Europe. If Russia and America agree on something, indeed, if U.S. and Russia agree to cooperate in the field of energy, then the gas pipeline to Europe can be provided, can be insured. And this will be of use, because they will then get cheap Russian gas.

[LUKASHENKO:] That’s what I meant, yes.

[PUTIN:] I understood you, yes. As for the situation on the ground that I mentioned, it is changing very rapidly.

Yesterday, during the report, the commander said that Suja would be in our hands tomorrow, and this is what happened. And I would like to thank our soldiers for achieving this objective. And I’m sure that all of the objectives in this Kursk incursion area will be achieved, just like all the objectives on all the front line.

So we are now taking over all of these small villages that are surrounding Suja, one by one. And depending on the situation on the ground, we will agree our next steps on how to stop this conflict and also how to achieve acceptable terms for everyone.

[REPORTER:] ONT channel, to continue this topic, possibly the negotiations on Ukraine is something, is the topic that is discussed most of all in Belarus and everywhere else. Will the interests of Belarus be taken into account as the closest neighbour of Ukraine?

Belarus’s Interests in Ukraine Negotiations

[PUTIN:] What are the wishes, do you mean, the wishes of Belarus in the negotiations? I don’t quite understand your question, but I can just say in general that the interests of the Republic of Belarus, given our relationships, interests, whether we talk about our partners across the ocean or with our neighbours, all of these interests are always taken into account. Within the framework of the Union State, we assume that we have a common concept and our bodies are cooperating very closely. We work on Eurozess, in Eurozess area, and we’ve got a very deep, deeply connected cooperation in economics, in rail production.

For this reason, we can’t possibly not take into account the interests of Belarus, because any step that we are taking in any direction affects both us and Belarus. So, taking Belarus into account is completely in line with the interests of the Russian Federation.

[LUKASHENKO:] I think that this question came up with the suggestion of those who fled abroad. They are saying that when Russia and America agree, they will not take into account Belarus’ interests. I’d like to say, first of all, I’m not trying to go anywhere. I’m not going to try to participate in these negotiations.

I am because we have got somebody participating in there who is very well aware of our interests, and he is not going to concede our interests. So, if people believe that negotiations between US, Russia and Ukraine somehow damaged the interests of Belarus, that is not true.

[PUTIN:] I couldn’t even understand the question, how can we not take into account the interests of Belarus that would go against our own interests? But I hope I answered your question anyway.

[REPORTER:] And the question from Russian journalists, which will conclude our press conference, Ryan Novosti, if you allow, question on integration process between Russia and Belarus, question about the economic aspect. There were 28 programs that were developed, and the question is about the progress between 2024 and 2026. Do you think you are happy with the pace of implementation of all these programs?

Russia-Belarus Integration Progress

[PUTIN:] All of these 28 programs have been completely implemented. Secondly, what we were planning for 2024-2026 is now complete, 26% complete. I’m personally happy with this. The government is working intensely on this, and they’re very productive.

President Lukashenko has to take part in some of this work in order to agree certain moments, but these are just operational aspects, and we’ve got a compromise that both parties are happy with. And I’m personally very happy with how we’re moving forward.

[LUKASHENKO:] I can’t add anything to this. I’m happy that President Putin is happy in terms of realization of these programs. As President of Russia just said, we just talked on the operational level. Whatever governments are not able to agree, just bring these questions to our level, and we can agree that at the presidential level.

And this is what we’ve done today. We have a joint group that is working, and then whatever they are not able to agree, then we work on this. Thank you very much for your attention.

[UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:] Thank you.

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