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Belarus leader to discuss situation in Ukraine, Syria with Russia FM

International situation requires close coordination on issues connected with European security, Ukrainian crisis, situation in the Middle East — Lavrov

MINSK, May 16. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will discuss European security, Ukrainian crisis and the situation in Syria.

"International situation requires close coordination on issues connected with European security, Ukrainian crisis, situation in the Middle East," Lavrov said on Monday during his visit to Minsk. He noted that it is necessary to discuss cooperation between Moscow and Minsk "in UN, OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), other international formats, SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) where Belarus has become an observer now."

The Russian foreign minister also said that one of the topics discussed yesterday and today was "the importance of preventing attempts to glorify Nazism, preserve the memory about the Second World War, Great Patriotic War of our peoples, inadmissibility of rewriting history."

Disagreements arise from time to time between any countries, but "our relations are different because we openly ask our friends and partners those questions, and we always understand each other though sometimes finding a resolution takes some time," Lavrov said.

Lukashenko in turn noted that cooperation between the foreign ministries of Russia and Belarus is exemplary. "If all ministries had worked in such coordination, we would have had no problems," the president added. He said he wanted to discuss with Lavrov the future of Russian-Belarusian relations and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) as a meeting at the highest level is expected in this framework on May 31.

"I also want to hear your assessments on several international problems, Ukraine, Syria, so that you updated me on recent development, and we knew how to coordinate and adjust our position," the Belarusian president said.

He also reminded that the Council of Ministers of the Union State of Russia and Belarus was recently held in Mogilev. Lukashenko also held a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. "We managed to discuss all issues in a friendly atmosphere. There are no closed topics for is. Our communication with the Russian prime minister is very open," Lukashenko said.