President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has spoken in favour of continuing close cooperation with Russia. The Head of State stated this today, answering journalists' questions during a visit to the Baranovichi State Vocational and Technical College of Service, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has spoken in favour of continuing close cooperation with Russia. The Head of State stated this today, answering journalists' questions during a visit to the Baranovichi State Vocational and Technical College of Service, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. during a visit to the Baranovichi State Vocational and Technical College of Service, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

Alexander Lukashenko stressed that Belarus and Russia will continue close cooperation, as has been the case previously. Although recently there have been opinions that relations between the countries have cooled. The President also pointed this out during his Address to the Belarusian People and Parliament. "In my Address before the elections, I said: today you call us partners. Not brothers anymore, but partners. And that's a mistake! This was heard in the Kremlin and everywhere. We are brothers today. But why wait for someone in the West to push us, for us to become brothers again? This is a lesson. We will draw the appropriate conclusions. The President (of Russia. - BELTA's note) and I have already drawn these conclusions. And no matter what you say here, no matter what is yapped in the squares here, we will preserve our common Fatherland," said the Head of State. "Our common Fatherland, where two peoples from one root live. This is the Fatherland from Brest to Vladivostok."

The President stressed that Belarus and Russia are linked, among other things, by close cooperative and production ties. Part of the domestic economy is linked to the supply of raw materials and components from Russia, thereby providing orders and jobs for Russian enterprises. "I have never turned my back on Russia. I am an experienced person. I understand that our production chain is very tightly linked," he said. "It is purely a media fabrication that Lukashenko has turned to the West."-