Lukashenka: We Cannot Pull Out Of This Nosedive

The dictator has given the 13th press-conference for the Russian media.

About 100 journalists have taken part in the event, also representatives of four federal TV-channels, and bloggers from 46 regions of Russia.

Opening the press-conference, Lukashenka has stated that the Russians will never be aliens in Belarus, and noted we have not only the common history, but the common pain as well. Russia remains one of the most stable cantons on Earth today, the dictator has noted.

“In this complicated period, Belarusians and Russians should stick together, be strong, make everyone respect them and defend common interests together,” — Interfax quotes Lukashenka.

He has added that the solid allied relations between Belarus and Russia keep revealing at the international arena, where new threats and challenges occur.

“Today, the planet is shaking with civil dissensions, terrorism, military conflicts. We repeatedly discussed these issues with the President of Russia and found total consonance in assessment thereof. Moreover, there are no discrepancies regarding the international agenda between the two states,” — he has informed.

“It is not a coincidence that Belarus and Russia show a united front when it comes to key issues of the foreign policy,” — Lukashenka has summarized.

The representative of the newspaper “Vechernyaya Moskva” has become the first journalist to ask the question – he wondered what the most important events of this year were, also with respect to the relations between Belarus and Russia.

Lukashenka has stated straightaway that this year wasn’t the best in both achievements and relations between the two countries, BelaPAN reports.

The turnover significantly fell — although the physical volumes of supplies, including the ones from Belarus to Russia, grew, there was "nothing to boast" in dollar terms. Belarus didn’t start producing less, but didn’t become richer because of this either. According to Lukashenka, this year's GDP will fall by approximately 2%.

The governor has also stated that Belarus fully realizes who stands behind the conflicts at the border between Belarus and Russia as for the supplies of the Belarusian products.

Another sore issue is the difficulties which the Belarusian pharmaceutical companies face when they come out to the Russian market. Lukashenka hopes this problem will be solved upon signing the agreement on the common market of medicines in the framework of the Common Economic Space.

Lukashenka has said he plans to meet with Vladimir Putin on November 22. “We will sit together quietly on a face-to-face basis and discuss all the conceptual issues,” — Lukashenka has said.

According to the dictator, Belarus and Russia “have many problems that darken our relations”. “Unfortunately, we have done nothing new (in 2016 – IF), there is just more negativism,” — he has added.

“This wasn’t the best year. In terms of economy, you do realize what happened. The Russian market made 50% of our goods turnover,” — the state leader has continued.

Lukashenka has stated that Belarus “strongly depends on the Russian market”. “There was a serious downfall at the Russian market and we lost about $ 3 billion in the last nine months. The goods turnover significantly fell. The only silver string is that there was a growth in the physical volume (of export – IF),” — he has noted.

According to Lukashenka, the economic situations make both state leaders (of Russia and Belarus) “get angry, as we cannot pull out of this nosedive and restore the economy.”

“We do not produce less, but we are not becoming any richer either. This is the background, and, to make it worse, the events happening in the world are only complicating things,” — the state leader has added.

“What alerts me is that, when it comes to rough times, all of us (the CIS countries – IF) start defending and isolating from each other instead of looking for the way out together. I think it’s wrong, especially when we talk about Belarus and Russia. We have mutually reinforcing economies. We should not build walls between us,” — Lukashenka has summarized.