22 Aug 2018 12:17

Lukashenko heading to Sochi for talks with Putin

MINSK. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has left Belarus for Russia, the presidential press service said on Wednesday.

"The heads of state will discuss a broad range of aspects of Belarusian-Russian cooperation, interaction at integration unions and international organizations, and the global agenda," the press service said.

The last meeting between Lukashenko and Putin took place in Minsk on June 20 during the session of the Supreme State Council of Russia and Belarus.

Putin invited Lukashenko to visit Russia during a phone call in July.

Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov said earlier that foreign policy issues will be at the top of the agenda of the upcoming summit meeting.

Lukashenko has repeatedly reproached Russia for unfair competition and a failure to fulfill its obligations as part of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The president said in early August that "Russians are behaving in a barbaric manner towards us." "They are demanding something from us, as if we are their vassals, although they're unwilling to fulfill their obligations as part of the EAEU, to which they invited us," Lukashenko said.

He has also said that he "does not report to the Kremlin" and that Belarus would not be "a vassal" of any country, including Russia.