Russia, Belarus say forging ahead with union state integration despite sanctions

By Serdar Dincel

ISTANBUL (AA) — Russia and Belarus are in the process of further consolidating their integration under their union state despite Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Monday.

"Despite the increasing sanctions pressure, Russia and Belarus are progressively strengthening union integration," Mishustin said in a meeting with his Belarussian counterpart Roman Golovchenko in Moscow.

Emphasizing that the two countries "pay priority attention to strengthening trade and economic cooperation," Mishustin said bilateral trade turnover had reached a record 4.2 trillion Russian rubles ($44.9 billion) last year.

Moscow and Minsk are also speeding up the implementation of 25 joint industrial cooperation projects, he said, adding that Belarus has increased its exports to foreign markets by using Russian transport infrastructure.

For his part, Golovchenko said cooperation between the two countries is "as rich and multifaceted as ever."

"We are working quite successfully on the internal circuit and on the external circuit, despite all the challenges that both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus face," Golovchenko said.

He added: "Indeed, our countries have demonstrated serious resilience in these difficult conditions. The economies of our countries have undergone a serious test of strength.

"As a result, at the end of last year, GDP in both Russia and Belarus grew, and this figure was quite confident — up to 4%."

Russia and Belarus are formally part of a union state and have been in talks for years to move closer together, a process that has accelerated in recent years.