Lukashenko and Putin discuss Union State project implementation

Belarusian mass media reports that Lukashenko made these remarks during his meeting with Putin in Moscow.

"We will overcome all of this. We have not collapsed, despite the hopes and predictions of some. Yes, it will not be easy, but when was it ever easy? We will endure and do everything, even in microelectronics, which we discussed a year ago when we met in your office. It turns out we found an opportunity to work. Missiles are flying, and military equipment is moving in different directions, but we will overcome them. It just takes time... We have already worked out the salary we are paid," Lukashenko said.

During the conversation, Lukashenko noted that it was an achievement that Belarus and Russia had implemented 80% of the 28 "union programs" in two years. Leaving aside, however, "those heights that we could not take for a long time and cannot take now."

"If the governments stumbled somewhere, we held a meeting, made a decision, and gave them the go-ahead to implement these programs. We agreed to work hard on these programs for two years," he said.

Lukashenko added that there would be fewer problematic issues as they continued to develop, but they were still being thrown at them.

• The self-proclaimed president of Belarus Lukashenko is visiting Moscow on April 5-6. On the eve of the so-called Supreme State Council of the Union State meeting, he met with Vladimir Putin (for whom the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant).