The all-round cooperation between Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast is increasingly vibrant, the Belarusian president said as he met with Governor of Kaliningrad region Nikolai Tsukanov.
According to Aliaksandr Lukashenka, starting from 2010 the bilateral trade has been on the rise. It reached almost $300 million in 2013.
“Certain enemies of ours, including those in Russia and Belarus, say that Lukashenka wants to attach Kaliningrad region to Belarus. Believe me, I do not have such plans. Since the Soviet times Belarus has always supported Kaliningrad . We have never thought that this is an alien region. Therefore, it is not important what country Kaliningrad Oblast is part of,” state-owned news agency BelTA quotes him as saying.
As it was reported earlier, Aliaksandr Lukashenka suddenly suggested Kaliningrad region should become Belarusian when asked about the Russo-Lithuanian conflict at a presidential press conference for journalists from Russia’s regions in October, 2013.
“If Lithuanians keep behaving like that they will have their faces punched. No one has the right to close the border [i.e. the way] to Kaliningrad region. Give it to us! We will plough every hectare, every are there, we will turn it into a prosperous land!”
