STRELNA, January 29. /TASS/. Russia and Belarus have made great strides in developing the Union State, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Speaking at a meeting of the Union State’s Supreme State Council, the Russian leader noted that the two countries will mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from the Nazi occupation in July of this year and the 80th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War (the Eastern Front during WWII where the former Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany) in May 2025. These are hugely significant dates for the two brotherly peoples, he stressed.

"The truly allied and strategic partnership between Russia and Belarus rests on this unshakable basis, of which we have been building our Union State for nearly 25 years. And we have managed to do a lot on this path," Putin said,

According to the Russian president, the 28 sectoral union programs have helped to harmonize Russian and Belarusian laws, forming the legal and organizational framework for a common economic space. Apart from that, in his words, the two countries have created conditions for conducting a common macroeconomic and monetary policy and for joint efforts to mitigate damage from Western sanctions.

"Bilateral trade has been growing year after year. In January-November 2023, Russian-Belarusian trade grew by nearly 9.5% and came close to a record-breaking sum of 43 billion US dollars," Putin emphasized, adding that Russia has invested more than four billion US dollars into Belarus’ economy, with around 2,400 Russian companies operating in the Belarusian market.

He recalled that Russia had taken part in the construction of the Belarusian NPP, which was completed last year. "This is, of course, a big step forward. It means not only that the facility has been built but, as we always say, an entire sector is being established. And in this sense, Belarus has become a nuclear power," Putin added.