1 Mar 2019 15:19

Kremlin sees relations with Belarus as allied, refrains from comment on Lukashenko's remark on possible failure of unification referendum

MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov has refrained from commenting on Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko's remark that an overwhelming majority of Belarussians would be against unification with Russia.

Peskov said, however, that most Russians do have warm feelings toward Belarussians.

"I wouldn't venture to comment on these remarks by Alexander Grigoryevich [Lukashenko]," Peskov told journalists on Friday.

"Relations between our countries are allied and brotherly, and I think an attitude of warmth toward Belarus is probably the predominant one here," Peskov said when asked to comment on the remark Lukashenko had made earlier on Friday that, if a referendum on unification between Belarus and Russia was held, 98% of Belarussians would vote against it.