Contents tagged with Belarus
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Belarus intends to hold joint military exercises with NATO
Chief of the General Staff of the Belarusian Armed Forces Oleg Belokonev said in an interview with Nasha Niva newspaper that Minsk is negotiating with the North Atlantic Alliance on the format of joint military exercises.
At the same time, Belokonev stressed that NATO "must realize that Belarus is an ally of Russia."
"Belarus is ready for joint exercises with NATO. There are talks on possible formats. But we will agree on this if NATO understands that Russia is our strategic ally," said …
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Putin and Lukashenko reach agreement on oil and gas prices
Belarus and Russia have found ways to compensate for Belarus’s expenses that were caused by a Russian tax maneuver in the oil sector, said Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko on Sunday after a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi.
According to Semashko, the leaders have found ways to compensate part of Belarus’s losses arising from the tax maneuver – roughly $400 million per year, the amount that Minsk earned through favorable oil prices.
Semashko …
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Russia and Belarus to create joint Parliament and Government
Belarusian Ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko agreed to create a joint Parliament and government as part of the Union State.
"The presidents agreed that the stated goals are ambitious, and they should not change. These goals include the transition to unified tax legislation, the creation of common markets for oil, gas, and electricity, the creation of a single Parliament and government with executive …
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Russia threatens Belarus with economic crisis for refusing to integrate
Refusing to enter into a union with Russia will drive Belarus into an economic crisis, said Konstantin Zatulin, deputy chair of the State Duma committee for the CIS, Eurasian integration and relations with Russian nationals abroad. The Russian politician was commenting on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s decision not to sign any documents to deepen integration with Russia that might deprive Minsk of its sovereignty.
Russia wants Belarus to transition to a full-fledged union state …
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Belarus hopes for lower priced Russian gas
Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Lyashenko said that Belarus expects that the price for Russian gas imports will be reduced in 2020, reports the BelTA news agency.
"For the coming year, we expecting to move towards lower prices, which we are negotiating about. We made our proposals," said Lyashenko. He noted that Belarus' ambassador to Russia Vladimir Semashko, as well as Belarusian Energy Ministry and Belneftekhim Gas Concern, are consolidating the work on the preparation of oil and gas …
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Belarusian President Lukashenko rules out appearance of Russian tanks in Poland
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said after parliamentary elections that Belarus and Russia are not going to send tanks against Poland, reports BelTA.
The Belarusian President pointed out that Belarus has always been open to Poland, as it is one of the countries closest to it. He also added that Belarus is ready for close, friendly relations with Poland.
According to Lukashenko, when such relations began to develop between Minsk and Warsaw, Poland began to "play along" with the …
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Belarusian President Lukashenko once again refuses to deepen integration with Russia
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he will not sign any of the documents on further integration with Russia if they contravene the Belarusian constitution, BelTA reports.
“Not a single one of the documents will be signed if they contravene the constitution and fundamental principles of life of our society. And the most important principles are independence and sovereignty,” he said.
According to Lukashenko, Belarus and Russia can sign no roadmaps until they have dealt with …
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Belarus fully renounces Russian loans
For the first time in the many years that the Union State of Russia and Belarus has existed, the Belarusian government will be adopting a financial policy that completely avoids new loans from Russia.
In its borrowing plan for 2020, the Belarusian Ministry of Finance has not budgeted for any new loans from Russia, according to the country’s “Primary areas of budget, financial and tax policy for 2020-2022”.
In 2019, Minsk expected $630 million from Moscow in the form of an intergovernmental …
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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 …
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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 …