BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/10/2008

Belarus president in Russia for talks

MOSCOW, October 25 (RIA Novosti) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko visits Moscow on Saturday for talks with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin's press service said.

"Talks between the two heads of state will be held," the statement read, adding that the visit had been agreed on at an earlier date.

Medvedev and Lukashenko last met on October 10 in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, at a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit and a Eurasec meeting.

The CIS comprises Russia, Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Ukraine is a founding and participating country but technically not a member state. Turkmenistan holds associate status while Georgia recently withdrew over the conflict Russia over South Ossetia.

Before that they met in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the two countries agreed to sign a deal to set up a unified air-defense system at a regular meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union in Moscow this fall.

The Russia-Belarus Union was created in 1997 with the stated goal of reunifying the two former Soviet republics, but progress toward integration has been slow and the union is viewed by many as largely symbolic.

An air-defense agreement would be a major step forward for the bloc, which has largely focused on trade issues and visa agreements and has done little in terms of defense.

At a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on October 6 in the Belarusian capital of Minsk, Lukashenko spoke in favor of boosting Russia-Belarus relations, saying that the people of both former Soviet republics were waiting for something concrete in that direction.

Source:

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081025/117944875.html

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