MINSK, May 27. /TASS/. The collective West's attempts to weaken Russia and Belarus have been unsuccessful, as the two countries have fought them back together, Russian Ambassador in Minsk Boris Gryzlov has said.
"All of us understand that when the collective West creates 'unbearable conditions' in Russia and Belarus and wants to bring our countries to their knees, we need to work together to figure out how to keep this from happening. And it's not happening," he said after a meeting with Chairman of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament Igor Sergeyenko.
Gryzlov recalled that despite enormous pressure from the outside, "the GDP decline in Russia and Belarus in 2022 was minimal, while the collective West believed that GDP would dip 15%-20%." "Instead, it stood at 3.5%-4%. And GDP even increased in 2023. Now we have data for three months of 2024: GDP is growing, industrial development is increasing, the numbers are very good, and trade turnover between Russia and Belarus is booming," the diplomat pointed out.
He noted the continued development of Belarus' ties with Russian regions, saying that 11 delegations headed by governors have already visited the republic since the beginning of the year. "This is imperative to developing cooperation, import substitution, increasing trade turnover," Gryzlov emphasized.