As Russia and Belarus move ahead with the plan to cooperate in a union state, the heads of both countries have signed an agreement on closer cooperation in a number of areas, US public broadcaster Radio Free Europe and French news agency AFP reports.
Both neighbouring countries entered a Union State treaty in 1999 and have been negotiating on and off since then. The project could be a major step toward uniting Belarusian and Russian economies and political structures. However, such integrated cooperation might undermine Belarus’s sovereignty, which has not been the goal of Lukashenko at least in the public realm.
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On Thursday, November 4, the state media of the two countries reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko entered into an agreement providing for a total of 28 integration road maps at an online meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State.
In the centre of the agreement, there are mostly economic and regulatory issues, including common policies on taxation, banking, industry, agriculture, and energy. In addition, the two leaders approved a joint military doctrine. Politically, there was no mention of issues surrounding political integration, Radio Free Europe and AFP report.
Belarus and Russia approve 28 plans for nearing countries and joint defence doctrine
