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Putin, Lukashenko begin talks in Sochi

The talks will focus on key issues of further development of the Russian-Belarusian strategic partnership and allied relations

Russian President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

Russian President Vladimir Putin

© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

SOCHI, September 14. /TASS/. Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus have begun talks in Russia’s Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Monday.

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Putin, Lukashenko to hold face-to-face talks

"The talks have kicked off," he said.

Lukashenko arrived in Sochi at about 11:00 Moscow time. It is his first foreign visit after the August 9 presidential polls that sparked ongoing mass protests.

The Kremlin press service said earlier that the Sochi talks would focus on key issues of further development of the Russian-Belarusian strategic partnership and allied relations. Special attention is expected to be focused on the implementation of large-scale joint projects in the trade-and-economic, energy, cultural-and-humanitarian spheres, and prospects for the development of integration processes within the Union State. According to the Kremlin spokesman, no documents are to be signed. According to BelTA news agency, the talks will be held in the tete-a-tete format.

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