Belarusian president rules out USSR revival but calls for preservation of ties

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko ruled out any possibility of restoring the Soviet Union but called for the preservation and strengthening of the economic ties between the former republics. 

Speaking at a narrow-format meeting of the CIS Council of Heads of State in Tajikistan’s Dushanbe, Lukashenko said the shared economic space of the post-Soviet countries must be maintained, warning that without it, cooperation in other areas—political, diplomatic, or military—would be impossible, Caliber.Az reports via Belarusian media. 

He stressed that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) must focus on expanding cooperation without restrictions or closed topics. Lukashenko urged member states to view one another as partners and to protect what generations of “our people have worked for.”  

According to Lukashenko, the deepening of integration among Eurasian countries, along with growing interest from third countries in engaging with CIS structures, is becoming a stable trend. He identified the strengthening of the CIS’s international authority and positioning as one of the Commonwealth’s key strategic directions.

By Sabina Mammadli