No joint statement from Putin and Lukashenka

A joint statement, which was expected following the military exercises Zapad 2013, was not made.

The information was received from Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Interfax news agency reports.

“A joint statement was not planned. It was possible, but there were no plans to make a joint statement,” he said.

Many news agencies and media reported earlier that Putin and Lukashenka would make a joint statement after the military exercises.

“Journalists probably took it in a wrong way,” Dmitry Peskov noted.

The Russian president's spokesman didn't say whether Vladimir Putin and Lukashenka had discussed Uralkali during the flight from Hrodna to Kaliningrad.

The heads of Russia and Belarus focused on the topic of joint drills on Thursday, according to him. “They flew on the same plane from Hrodna to Kaliningrad, but I cannot say exactly if the issue of Uralkali was raised,” Dmitry Peskov said.

He declined to comment on whether it was a coincidence the release of Uralkali CEO Vladislav Baumgertner and placing him under house arrest happened ahead the meeting between the heads of state during the military exercises. He noted it wasn't the Russian president or Russia who took the decision. “Why do you ask the spokesman for the Russian president about it?” he answered to journalists.

We remind that the heads of state arrived at Khmelyovka firing range in Kaliningrad Oblast for the Russian-Belarusian military exercises Zapad 2013. They watched the maneuvers from a control point on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

Putin and Lukashenka watched maneuvers at the Gozhsky range in Belarus in the morning. They flew to Kaliningrad on the Russian president's plane.