Putin Congratulates Lukashenko, Agrees to Meet on September 21

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and "warmly congratulated" him on his birthday last week.

The press service of the Kremlin reports that the heads of state discussed a number of topical issues on the bilateral agenda, including the schedule of upcoming high-level contacts.

Earlier, Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to Lukashenko.

The telephone conversation was also commented on by the Belarusian side.

"The heads of state continued to discuss topical issues of the Belarusian-Russian cooperation and the schedule of forthcoming contacts. In particular, Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin confirmed the need to hold a meeting with the participation of government leaders, an agreement which was reached [last week] in Sochi. As planned, the prime ministers of the two countries, vice-premiers responsible for oil and gas complex and agriculture, and finance ministers will take part in the negotiations. The preliminary date of this meeting was marked September 21 by the heads of state,” the press service of the Belarusian president said.

By Dimitri Dolaberidze