Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin are currently facing some problems.
Nevertheless, the presidents demonstrate fun - with sport and expressions of friendship.
Sochi / Gomel - Shortly after the election clash in Belarus, an explosive question arose: Could Alexander Lukashenko's fall in the neighboring country indirectly herald the end of the Putin era in Russia?
Now the authoritarian presidents have once again joined forces - in a remarkable setting.
After a one-hour conversation, the two heads of state devoted themselves to winter sports, apparently carefree: They went skiing together.
A demonstrative lightness of being that can be understood as a statement.
Not only that Lukashenko was recently able to suppress protests with great difficulty.
Putin also has massive trouble with the West in the Navalny case - and skiing is still considered an extremely delicate pleasure in large parts of Europe in the Corona crisis.
Russia: Putin and Lukashenko practice solidarity - when skiing
A good six months after the protests began in Belarus, Lukashenko and Putin emphasized the close cooperation between the two countries.
"Not a day goes by when our colleagues don't talk to each other and solve certain problems," said the Kremlin chief at a meeting in the Russian city of Sochi, which was shown in excerpts on state television.
Lukashenko called his colleague someone "close to him".
+
Alexander Lukashenko (left) and Vladimir Putin on the ski slope.
© Alexei Druzhinin / dpa
Putin announced further deliveries of the Russian corona vaccine Sputnik V to Belarus.
“We have to combine our efforts, also with our European colleagues,” he said.
According to Lukashenko, his country wants to develop its own vaccine by autumn.
So-called vaccination diplomacy is currently booming - for example in China.
Lukashenko under pressure: money from Putin?
Industrial cooperation "more important than direct financial support"
The last time the two heads of state met in September, also in Sochi.
Putin promised the financially troubled neighboring country a billion-euro loan.
Now the Kremlin chief has said that cooperation between the two countries' industries is more important than “direct financial support” from Moscow.
Belarus’s economy is heavily dependent on Russia, which supplies oil and gas, for example.
Moscow sees its neighbors and allies as a strategically important buffer zone to NATO.
Putin and Lukashenko: A sensitive question is not an issue - at least on state television
After the presidential election on August 9, which was widely considered to be falsified, mass protests broke out in Belarus.
Recently, however, there were only a few campaigns.
After 26 years in power, Lukashenko had himself confirmed for a sixth term with 80.1 percent of the vote.
The EU no longer recognizes him as president and has already imposed sanctions on the authoritarian leadership.
Russia repeatedly urged Lukashenko to reform the constitution.
At least in the part of the talks broadcast on state television, that was not an issue.
Observers had expected Putin to address the trial of the first prominent opposition activist imprisoned in Belarus at the meeting.
Viktor Babariko was the head of the subsidiary of the Russian Gazprombank in Belarus.
He wanted to run against Lukashenko in the election, but was arrested.
In Belarus, opposition leader Svetlana Tichanowskaya declared the protests to have failed for the time being at the weekend.
In another interview, she described the EU sanctions against the authoritarian leadership in Minsk as a “laughing stock”.
Meanwhile, the judiciary continues to crack down on demonstrators: A 26 and a 29-year-old man were sentenced to seven and eight years of strict camp imprisonment in the city of Gomel for alleged incendiary charges, the human rights organization Wesna announced on Monday.
Another 17-year-old youth received six years in a penal colony.
He reportedly pleaded with the court for his release.
(
dpa / fn
)