Contents tagged with Belarus

  • Russian and Belarus governments to present integration plans to Putin and Lukashenko by December 1

    The governments of Belarus and Russia will present a roadmap for integrating the two countries to their presidents by December 1, RIA Novosti reports, citing Belarusian Prime Minister Syarhey Rumas.

    “We are working on it now in order to present draft roadmaps to the presidents by December 1,” Rumas said.

    He also added that a session of the Council of Ministers of the Union State has been scheduled for November 19, after which he will discuss integration plans with Russian Prime Minister …

  • Kremlin recognizes Ukrainians and Belarusians as ‘native Russian speakers’

    The Russian government has decided to recognize Ukrainians and Belarusians as native Russian speakers and allow them to forego the language interview when applying for Russian citizenship, the Russian government announced in a statement on its website.

    “The draft of the federal law On introducing changes to article 331 of the federal law On Russian citizenship has been approved and will be introduced in the State Duma in the established manner,” the statement reads.

    The bill will allow …

  • Moscow may deny loan to Minsk

    Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced on Saturday that Russia had not made a decision yet whether to allocate $600 million government loan to Belarus. Siluanov noted that Belarus might not receive a loan in all, reports Interfax news agency.

    According to the Russian Finance Minister, the difficulties with the allocation of funds will not affect the plan of the two countries to integrate the economies. Now, a "road map" is developed, which will determine the specific tasks for the …

  • Belarusian President Lukashenko urges CIS leaders to support new Ukrainian government

    Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged the leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to support the new Ukrainian government, reports the Belarusian BelTA news agency.

    "Recently, we spoke about Ukraine. I want to express my position because both the Russian President [Putin] and I are very concerned about the situation in Ukraine because it's happening so close to us. Speaking about the new Ukrainian government, I would like to urge you to support them. There is already …

  • Russian military attaché expelled from Belarus for espionage

    Russian military attaché  Roman Spiridonov was expelled from Belarus for espionage, reports sprotyv.info news outlet.

    The publication writes that Roman Spiridonov "is not a diplomat at all." His main task is intelligence activities.

    "However, he doesn't carry out his functions professionally, because his track record already has a high-profile failure – his expulsion from France, also on charges of espionage," the newspaper writes.

    This is not the first incident this year, connected to the …

  • Belarus sees no point in establishing Russian military base in its territory

    Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said in an interview with RBC news agency, that "there is no practical, political, or military" need in the deployment of the Russian Air Force military base in Belarus.

    Various media have repeatedly raised this topic. Moscow and Minsk previously confirmed that they are discussing this possibility.

    Makei said that the issue is becoming irrelevant due to the development of modern technologies and expressed doubt that the deployment of Russian military …

  • Belarus finds new ‘big brother’ instead of Russia

    By the end of 2019, Belarus plans to sign a credit agreement with the China Development Bank to replace the loan it did not receive from Russia, Gazeta.ru reports, citing Belarusian Finance Minister Maksim Yermolovich.

    According to the minister, the Chinese bank has only provisionally agreed to give Minsk up to $500 million. The interest rate is still being discussed, and the loan will be denominated in yuans.

    “For quite a long time we have been building such relations with the Russian …

  • Lukashenko: Belarus has created medium-range missile

    President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Belarus has been able to achieve significant results in the creation of unique medium-range missiles missile systems, which Russia is only beginning to develop. According to Belarusian President, much more powerful weapons are already being developed.

    "The main issue was the increasing of the range and power of the missiles that we already have, and how we can use the experience of our partners, especially China, with which we actively …

  • Belarus does not intend to buy Russian MiG-35 fighter jets

    Belarus has no plans to buy Russian MiG-35 fighter jets, despite the information that appeared in the media that it might become one of the buyers of Russian aircraft, reports Avia.pro news outlet.

    Belarus does not have any interest in the Russian 4++ generation fighter jet MiG-35. The reason for that is that Belarus plans to buy Russian Su-30SM fighter jets. Another reason is the relatively high cost of MiG-35.

    Previously, it was assumed that China, India, and Turkey are the potential buyers …

  • Belarusian President Lukashenko: conflict in Eastern Ukraine cannot be resolved without the USA

    During a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale in Minsk, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, that the United States could contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, reports BelTA news agency.

    "Speaking about the problems of Europe, and especially Eastern Europe, in particular, Ukraine, I am convinced that it would be impossible to resolve this conflict without the participation of the United States," said Lukashenko. …