Russian leader Vladimir Putin is expected to participate in the session of the Supreme State Council of the Union State in Minsk on Thursday.
The session is to take place in the Palace of Independence. The previous meeting was held in March, 2015 in Moscow.
The agenda of the Supreme State Council meeting will include, among other issues, the Union State budget for 2016 and the program of cooperation for 2016-2017.
Lukashenka also counts on Russia’s financial support. The issue of granting a loan to Belarus is to be discussed during Putin’s visit to Minsk, news agency RIA Novosti reports with reference to its own source in the Russian government.
“Russians via their prime minister and the president, whom I met twice within one week, said directly that they had no way out but to support Belarus because Russian interests are over here, because they depend on Belarus in a lot of things,” Lukashenka said a week ago.
According to Belarusian political analyst Raman Yakauleuski, Vladimir Putin is coming to Minsk to convince Lukashenka that ‘Russian world’ is not a delusion.
“EU’s lifting sanctions has bolstered Lukashenka’s position in dealings with Putin. The latter might be arriving to prevent Lukashenka-EU game from going too far,” he said.
