MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Wednesday’s talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko were substantive and ended well past midnight, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"Ahead of [a Supreme State Council meeting], the two leaders held a very long and substantive discussion. It ended well past midnight," he said.

On Wednesday, Putin and Lukashenko met for tete-a-tete talks in the Kremlin. They discussed bilateral and international issues. According to the Russian president, a lot has been done in all domains of joint work between Russia and Belarus. Specifically, he highlighted the results of bilateral economic cooperation, pointing to a 12% increase in trade between the two countries last year.

In his turn, Lukashenko said that 28 Union programs were almost 80% complete. Having struck "a purposeful agreement," Moscow and Minsk worked hard on those programs over the past two years, the Belarusian leader said.

Following the official negotiations, the two leaders continued their conversation over an informal lunch.