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Russia, Belarus would have no union state without regional cooperation

Deep cooperation with Russia has been predetermined historically - Lukashenko

MINSK, January 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday there would be no Union State of Russia and Belarus without cooperation of his country with Russian regions.

“If there were no cooperation with Russian regions, there would be no Union State and no close relations with Russia,” he told a meeting with the governor of the Yaroslavl region, central Russia, Sergei Yastrebov.

“At the time these were Russian regions that saved our relations with Russia, when the center did not understand us very well,” he said. “Therefore we have never refused deeper cooperation with Russia, with any region. It will take less time to come to an agreement with governors than with the government.”

“We have been maintaining close cooperation with Russia since the Soviet era,” Lukashenko said, adding that the need for deep cooperation with Russia had been predetermined historically.

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