Lukashenko calls for building Belarus-Russia relations 'closer than in unitary state'

MINSK. April 29 (Interfax) - Belarus and Russia should build closer relations in the Union State than in a unitary state, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Volgograd.

"We have exactly the same idea: one Fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok. So it happens that two states have been established here, and we should do our utmost to make our relations in this Fatherland even closer than in a unitary state," Lukashenko was quoted by the state-run Belarus Today newspaper as saying.

"I am sure that our children and other generations will still appreciate what we are doing here. It's not easy for us: both on the left and on the right we are being bombed. And all of our decisions are aimed at the unity of our peoples," he said.