Lukashenko, Putin hold 4-hour meeting in Moscow

Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held a nearly four-hour meeting until late on April 11, according to Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti.

Lukashenko last met with Putin in Russia in January, a month before Belarus held rigged parliamentary elections that had no opposition candidates on the ballot.

Lukashenko's press service said earlier on April 11 that several topics were to be discussed with Putin, including "the coordination of actions in response to existing challenges and threats" and further advancing "Belarus-Russia cooperation in various spheres."

According to RIA Novosti, Lukashenko told Putin that Belarus supports Russia's position on negotiations with Ukraine, namely that all issues are still open to negotiation.

Lukashenko and Putin are also expected to hold a joint event to mark Cosmonautics Day on April 12 and "discuss prospects of cooperation of space exploration," Lukashenko's press service said.

"The heads of state will sum up results of a recent mission to the International Space Station (ISS) where a crew of the Union State of Belarus and Russia worked for the first time in history," Lukashenko's press service said.

Lukashenko has been the only president of Belarus since he came to power in 1994, in what is widely considered the first and last time free elections were held in the country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in September 2023 recognizing Lukashenko as an accomplice to the crimes of Putin. The resolution also labeled Belarus a "satellite state of Russia."

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