Russia gives $47m to Belarus

The Russian Central Bank has transferred 1.5bn rubles ($47.14m) to Belarus within the framework of the process on stabilizing national currency, Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko today. Putin expressed his satisfaction with the process of transferring the Union State to a single currency. According to the Russian President, "in respect to the process of transferring to a single currency, Russian-Belarusian relations are developing pretty well". Putin stressed that on the whole the integration of Russia and Belarus was unfolding positively. In particular, it concerns the process of executing agreements in the energy sector, he noted.

Lukashenko assured Putin that "Belarus has always been and will be Russia's friend. Our nations are close, and there is not even talk about changing this course".