Opening the 8th Forum of the Regions of Russia and Belarus, which began on Thursday by video-conference, the president warned that Moscow will continue to ‘offer comprehensive assistance to the brotherly Belarusian people in the current complex internal political situation’.

Putin denounced that there is ‘incessant political pressure on Minsk, as well as persistent efforts to destabilize the situation from the outside’.

With the theme ‘Russian-Belarusian scientific and technical cooperation in the era of digitalization’, the event is attended by the highest government and state authorities of both countries. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is also heading the forum.

Putin stressed that Moscow will continue to steadily develop multifaceted relations with Minsk for the consolidation of the State of the Union and as part of the integration process within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

He recalled that last April 2 the two nations celebrated the 25th anniversary of the signing of the treaty on the formation of the Russian-Belarusian Community, which preceded the signing of the Treaty on the establishment of the State of the Union.

According to Putin, about 2,400 Russian enterprises do business with Belarus, while Russia get almost half of all foreign trade of that nation.

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