MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered to discuss the prospects of activities of the working group on further expansion of ties between Moscow and Minsk to his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.

"As has been agreed we are setting up a working group on further development of our ties in the economic area and other fields. In accordance with our proposal, we will work towards expansion of our plans regarding the construction of the Union State," he said at a meeting in the Kremlin on Saturday.

"I suggest that today we should discuss that issue, saying what has been done from our part. You said that you would give a respective instruction to the government so that the colleagues from the Belarusian side will contribute as well," Putin added.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that the issues related to finances and implementation of the treaty of the Union State dated 1999 would be on the agenda of Saturday’s talks.

The key issue of the discussion for Minsk was the question of formation of the price for the Russian natural gas and the issue of shortfall in revenue for Belarus due to Russia’s tax maneuver, while the Russian side was concerned about recurrent violations of the customs regulation between the countries, particularly illegal supplies of sanctioned and excisable goods to the Russian territory.