Putin greets Lukashenko on tenth anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin has greeted Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on the tenth anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, reports the Kremlin press service.

The greeting, among other things, reads:

"This event has become the starting point in the recent history of Russian-Belarussian interstate cooperation. A lot has been done in the past years for the strengthening of friendship between the two fraternal peoples, a high level of interaction on many topical problems has been reached.

Today we are together building a union, which is called upon to lay a reliable groundwork for the ensurance of well-being and life of dignity for citizens of our countries. Painstaking and strenuous work is under way and it is extremely important without haste and minutely weighing up every step jointly to overcome emerging problems.

I am convinced that the deepening of Russian-Belarussian integration is a command of the times, which meets the aspirations of the peoples of Russia and Belarus, serves the interests of security and stability in Europe and the world."