The talks between the leaders of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi were held in a positive manner. This was told by Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Dmitry Kozak.

“The talks were held in a very positive way, we agreed to continue consultations at the level of governments, ministries and departments on improving the integration mechanism,” RIA Novosti quoted Kozak as saying.

During the negotiations, the parties agreed that gas supplies to Minsk during 2020 will be carried out on the terms of 2019. At the same time, oil supplies will be carried out “on the same commercial basis”.

“On the previous commercial basis, because we have a common market, we have the task of eliminating the contradictions. The Russian oil market and the Belarusian oil market are united. Under the same conditions on which oil is sold on the Russian market, it is sold on the Belarusian market, there are no differences, ”Kozak explained.

He added that the Belarusian side requested a discount on oil, but this would mean the introduction of state regulation of the market, which is not possible. He explained that Russia cannot “constantly change the rules of the game,” since it will put its oil companies in an “incomprehensible position”. In this regard, the Russian side will contribute to the achievement of commercial agreements between consumers in Belarus and Russian companies, he said.

It is worth noting that part of the Russian delegation did not manage to fly to the start of negotiations due to bad weather conditions. The special board, which hosted the press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov, deputy prime minister Aleksey Overchuk, energy minister Alexander Novak and first deputy minister of economic development Mikhail Babich, flew to Sochi after the end of the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in tete-a-a-tete format. tet, which lasted about an hour and a half.

“We have a lot of questions, we’ve been with Alexander Grigoryevich for almost an hour or a half (we talked in a one-on-one format. - RT ), we touched on a lot of questions that are of mutual interest,” the Russian leader said.

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In turn, Lukashenko said that he and Putin discussed not only topical issues in bilateral relations, but also topics relating to “many of our neighbors, countries of the former Soviet Union,” and their policies.

“We really talked about a lot, reached the depths of the gray-haired times of our life together in one state, discussed many historical dates and moments, they are known,” the Belarusian leader said at the beginning of the talks in an expanded format.

From Russia, Dmitry Kozak, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev and Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev attended them.

Earlier, the Kremlin’s press service reported that during the meeting, leaders intend to discuss topical issues of Russian-Belarusian cooperation, including integration issues within the Union State. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting of the heads of state was preceded by "ongoing contacts at the working level."

Recall that the agreement on the creation of the union of Russia and Belarus provides for the gradual unification of legislation and the formation of single government bodies. At the end of 2019, the parties noted that over the past 20 years since the signing of the agreement, many of the provisions specified in it have not been implemented, and therefore, as noted by Vladimir Putin, he and Alexander Lukashenko decided to accelerate the integration processes. In December 2019, the leaders held two meetings at which they discussed the problems of creating a Union State.

  • Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko take to the ice as part of a friendly hockey match

Hockey in the Galaxy

After the completion of negotiations in an expanded format, the heads of state went to the Galaxy sports and cultural complex. There, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko took to the ice as part of a friendly hockey match. The leaders of the two countries played in the match for one team. The meeting was also attended by the son of the Belarusian president Nikolai. Their game was watched by the former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and now Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.

Note that in February 2019, Putin and Lukashenko played together for the Tigers team in a friendly match at the Puck arena in Sochi. Their team inflicted a devastating defeat on rivals with a score of 16: 1.