Mishustin Assured Lukashenko of Moscow's Support for "Belarus Independence "

The union state of Russia and Belarus will be based on the independent position of Moscow and Minsk, the Russian prime minister said, highlighting "appropriate measures of economic nature." Russia supports the independence and territorial integrity of Belarus, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at the meeting with the current Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, September 3. In this situation, it is necessary "to abandon all kinds of threats, the use of unilateral sanctions," the head of the Russian government believes. He separately highlighted the progress in the future of the Union State. It will be "based on the absolutely independent position" of Moscow and Minsk, but "with appropriate measures of economic nature on which we have agreed," emphasized Mikhail Mishustin, calling Belarus a "home country" for Russia. According to him, the inhabitants of both countries "make actually one people. In turn, Lukashenka said that Minsk and Moscow have made significant progress in resolving "pressing issues." Russia, as the main economic partner of Belarus, "did not turn its back in these difficult times," the head of state said. He intends to soon meet in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other issues that the meeting participants intend to discuss are the barriers to trade removal and expanding cooperation in healthcare, energy and industry. Protests in Belarus after presidential elections since August 9, Belarus mass protests against the results of the presidential elections, in which Alexander Lukashenko won, take place. According to the final voting results presented by the CEC of Belarus, 80.1% of voters voted for Lukashenko, and 10.1% for his main rival, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. The speeches of citizens who defended their votes and are convinced the voting results being rigged, were suppressed by riot police and special forces. The security forces acted with unprecedented brutality. Tsikhanouskaya was forced to leave Belarus for Lithuania.