Putin Tells About ‘Long-Term Game’ With Belarus

The Russian President has said that Russia renders too much help to Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin considers that the recurring disputes between the neighboring countries, including Russia and Belarus, are natural. He has stated this at a press conference after the talks with President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev in Bishkek, TASS reports.

"The debate is always there, and I'm sure we will find a way out of any, even the seemingly very difficult situation", — the Russian President is convinced. "These arguments remain natural: each side defends its own interests", — he has stressed.

Putin has noted that Russia renders a lot of help to Belarus. "We have given Belarus over 6 billion dollars of loans alone”, — the Russian President has said.

He has reminded that Belarus gets the Russian oil on a duty-free basis, while Belarus sells the results of the processing of this raw material abroad, enrolling the fee thereof to the state budget . "We do not regret this, because, the Russian economy receives and will receive the benefits from our cooperation, as they say, long-term. Because it strengthens our synergetic effect and improves our common competitiveness,” — Putin has said. — Therefore, it is not wasted money for us, it's the well-calculated move based on the expected results. "

He has noted that the Russian market remains fully open to Belarusian goods.