This is Russian President Vladimir Putin's first trip to Belarus for three years, while his Minsk counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, regularly visits his big neighbor.
“Russia has no interest in absorbing anyone.
It just doesn't make sense,” the Kremlin ruler told a joint press conference.
These "substantial" talks have strengthened their cooperation in "all areas", particularly in the defense sector.
These are "common measures to ensure the security" of the two countries, "mutual deliveries of weapons", as well as the joint manufacture of armaments, said Vladimir Putin.
Lukashenko: "We can't do without Russia"
Russia will also continue to train Belarusian servicemen to fly Soviet-designed Belarusian aircraft capable of carrying nuclear bombs, according to the same source.
“Are we capable of protecting our independence on our own, without Russia?
Nope !
launched for his part the Belarusian president.
“Russia can do without us, and we cannot do without her,” he further argued.
"And if someone thinks that he could separate us today, drive a wedge between us, they will not succeed," added Alexander Lukashenko.
This summit between the Russian and Belarusian heads of state comes at a time when the Ukrainian authorities say they fear in the first months of 2023 the possibility of a Russian offensive on kyiv which would be launched from Belarusian territory, repeating the scenario of the start of the invasion on February 24.
Six days later, Minsk deployed additional forces to the Ukrainian border.
Belarusian maneuvers in the snow
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, denied that Vladimir Putin went to Belarus to convince Minsk to directly participate in the conflict in Ukraine, calling the allegations "stupid" and "baseless".
But the Russian Ministry of Defense on Monday released images of maneuvers in Belarus on which we see soldiers with tanks and practicing artillery fire in a snow-covered landscape.
Not enough to reassure the Ukrainians.
