MOSCOW, April 12. The Presidents of Russia and Belarus Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko are holding negotiations in the Kremlin.
As reported by the Telegram channel “Pool of the First,” close to the press service of the Belarusian leader, the heads of state began communicating in a one-on-one format in Putin's office.
Then they were joined by members of the expedition to the ISS — Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and representative of Belarus Marina Vasilevskaya.
As Lukashenko said, Moscow and Minsk agreed to continue cooperation in space, he expressed confidence that the Russians and Belarusians would still will make joint flights more than once.
Later, Putin, in the presence of Lukashenko, telephoned the large Pyak family — hereditary reindeer herders from Yamal — and congratulated them on their golden wedding. Putin already met with the head of the Pyak family in January at the All-Russian Family Forum “Relatives and Loved Ones.”
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“The most important thing in all your successes is your family, the basis of everything that happens in life and in every movement forward. “All the best to you, we hug you and wish you all the best, we congratulate you on the holiday,” the Russian leader noted.
The President promised the head of the family that he would fulfill his grandson’s dream of seeing the launch of a spaceship .
Then Putin and Lukashenko again continued their one-on-one communication.
The Belarusian president arrived in Russia on Thursday for a two-day visit. Earlier it was reported that on the second day of the trip, April 12, the leaders planned a joint event to mark Cosmonautics Day. It is expected that the heads of state will sum up the results of the mission to the ISS, where for the first time in history the crew of the Union State worked.
The Belarusian president himself, before leaving for Moscow, said that he intended, among other issues, to discuss “everyday affairs” and the future of the domestic cosmonautics.
On Thursday evening, Putin and Lukashenko met in a one-on-one format. The heads of state in an open conversation discussed, among other things, issues of cooperation in the field of space. Thus, the Russian President called the return of the ISS mission, in which the first female cosmonaut from Belarus Marina Vasilevskaya took part, a landmark event.
Lukashenko thanked Putin for the flight of the first Belarusian woman into space and said that if Moscow supports, then Minsk will send space the second female cosmonaut — Vasilevskaya's backup Anastasia Lenkova.