Putin and Lukashenko meet near Moscow ahead of CSTO summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko near Moscow on Tuesday ahead of a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Anadolu Agency reported.

The meeting was held at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence in the Moscow region. Putin said the leaders would discuss bilateral relations, including economic, humanitarian and security cooperation.

Putin praised trade ties between the countries, saying cooperation was progressing at a good pace, particularly in investment and high technology.

“Everything is developing, and at a good pace. We have an astonishing volume of trade – truly astonishing; there’s no other way to put it. Issues related to investments and high technologies are being addressed, which I find very gratifying,” Putin said.

He also thanked Lukashenko for supporting humanitarian exchanges involving Ukraine, saying Moscow highly valued Minsk’s assistance in organizing them.

Lukashenko said bilateral trade had risen by more than 21% this year. He also thanked Moscow for supplying Belarus with modern weapons and military support, saying the Belarusian armed forces had gained experience and strengthened their combat readiness.

Belarusian military units stationed along the country’s western border remained prepared to defend Belarus but had not been deployed to the conflict zone in Ukraine, Lukashenko said.