Lukashenko meets with Russia's Prosecutor-General Igor Krasnov

“Since the very first steps during this visit to Minsk you have felt that we are not strangers. However, I noticed that mass media have been recently trying to drive a wedge between us. We are experienced people, especially you, as you have seen a lot in life because of your profession. Probably, you understand what is going on around us. Therefore, we cannot escape this political entourage. Nevertheless, I would like to emphasized once again that Belarus is not an alien country for you. It's like a home for you. And you should act accordingly,” the head of state said at the beginning of the meeting.

“This meeting is taking place in the run-up to the very important event. We will hold the session of the Supreme State Council on 4 November,” the president said. “This is a crucial summit because we are making a resolute step in our integration in the past 15 years,” the Belarusian leader stressed.

“As President Putin, my counterpart, said, this is how we will resolve many, if not all, issues in the economy. In his words, we are building the foundation of our future relations. I think that these relations will be productive. I hope that we will make a concrete and powerful step,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

At the forthcoming session of the Supreme State Council the two leaders agreed to sign 28 Union State programs. According to the president, some people might say that Belarus and Russia are doing that because “they have nowhere else to go”. The two countries have been dealing with sanctions, and Belarus has only one ally. “The work [on the Union State programs] was started long before those events here, and in Russia, before these sanctions,” the head of state said. “Probably, we have seen once again who our friends are, who our rivals are, who our real enemies are. We see all that. I think that new facts will be unveiled every day.”