President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko wished to preserve the sovereignty of Belarus with deeper integration with Russia into the Union State, RIA Novosti reports.
Lukashenka perceives integration with Russia as exclusively cross-sectoral cooperation. According to him, participation in the project should be completely equal and exclude the appearance of new supranational authorities in the Union State.
At the same time, the President stressed that the existing system of institutions in him remains viable and cannot be “thrown into a landfill.” “Let’s see what the peoples say,” Lukashenko summed up.
Earlier it became known that Lukashenka wanted to make another visit to Russia. He expects to receive another three billion dollars from Moscow in addition to the one and a half billion previously allocated to him. The upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko was previously announced by the press secretary of the head of state Dmitry Peskov.
Throughout 2019 and the first half of 2020, before the presidential elections, which triggered the start of mass protests in Belarus, Lukashenko has repeatedly stated the need to pursue a multi-vector policy and build an independent country. He regularly complained about the “imperial manners” of Russia, criticizing the integration project within the framework of the Union State.