MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has held detailed discussions with permanent members of the Security Council on issues of the Russian-Belarusian cooperation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov reported Friday.

"Along with the current issues of the domestic Russian agenda, a detailed exchange of opinions on key issues of development of the Russian-Belarusian cooperation was held," he said.

The meeting included Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, speakers of both chambers of the Russian parliament Valentina Matviyenko and Vyacheslav Volodin, Deputy Chair of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev and Secretary of the council Nikolai Patrushev as well as the defense, foreign and interior ministers.

Earlier, the Russian president said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel that he hoped that all sides to the political process in Belarus would be reasonable enough to find a way out of the current turmoil in the country calmly and without any extremes. In particular, he pointed out that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he was ready to adopt a new constitution and later hold new presidential and parliamentary elections on its basis.

Belarus held the presidential election on August 9. According to the Central Election Commission, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko secured his reelection with 80.10% of the votes, while his key rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya came second with 10.12% She rejected the results and later fled to neighboring Lithuania. Amid this background, the country plunged into mass protests, as people challenged the official results. In the first few days, demonstrations were coupled with clashes with police. The recently created Coordination Council of the Belarusian opposition is urging people to keep protesting. Meanwhile, authorities say that unlawful rallies need to stop.

Relations with closest partner nations

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the Security Council to elaborate approaches to the development of relations with Moscow’s closest partner nations, "the countries Russia traditionally has close relations with due to the geographical proximity."

"These relations are developing and we should coordinate our positions on a number of key matters, ensure coordination between state structures and elaborate approaches to further development of cooperation with our partners," Putin said.