Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia cannot allow anyone to drive a wedge into their brotherly relations. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the statement during the third Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia in Minsk on 8 June, BelTA has learned.

“Certain forces in Belarus and Russia are displeased by our comprehensive cooperation and rapprochement,” stated Alexander Lukashenko. “By various means they are trying to destroy our unity, to start a quarrel between Belarus and Russia, weakening our positions that way. This is why we cannot allow these efforts to prosper and drive a wedge into our brotherly relations.”

The President underlined the importance of regional partnership in cultural affairs which has existed since times immemorial both for Belarusians and Russians. “It contains colossal spiritual values within. Over the course of many centuries a considerable and distinctive historical legacy has evolved. Today we have no reasons to abandon the good traditions of this legacy’s interaction and mutual enrichment on the global scale and the regional scale,” Alexander Lukashenko is convinced. The relations of Belarusians with Russian culture are tightest and most fruitful. “It is our culture,” underlined the President.

Large-scale events like the Slavonic Bazaar in Vitebsk confirm the fact. Alexander Lukashenko mentioned the recent festival of national cultures in Grodno and praised the festival’s organization. He also recalled the cinema forum Listapad and meet-the-artist events involving people of art and culture. Apart from that, Alexander Lukashenko mentioned that Russian is a state language in Belarus along with Belarusian.