During their upcoming meeting in September, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko (Alyaksandr Lukashenka) plan to sign a package of “roadmaps” for deepening the integration of Russia and Belarus, the Belarusian Ambassador to Moscow said on Tuesday, August 31.
The Russian and Belarusian authorities have been discussing the political integration of the two countries since 1999. In 2019–2020, the talks centered around 31 “roadmaps,” which outline the integration in various spheres of governance and the economy.
According to Ambassador Vladimir Semashko, as quoted by Interfax, Putin and Lukashenko are set to “sign all of these ‘roadmaps’ and a general map for deepening integration” in Moscow on September 9.
“We, thank God, have come to the finish line three years later, when only one of the 28 maps remain. I’ll think we’ll finish ironing out the last one on [September] 7,” Semashko said, as quoted by TASS.
In conversation with journalists on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Putin and Lukashenko are set to meet on September 9. According to Peskov, the two parties will hold talks, followed by a press conference. The Kremlin spokesman didn’t specify the topic of the negotiations.
The draft “roadmaps” for the integration of Russia and Belarus that have been in development since 2019–2020 have never been made public. In the past, residents of Belarus have protested against integrating the country with Russia.
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