MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2020) Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, during their recent talks in Sochi agreed to task the authorities of the both countries to establish personal contacts between heads of government agencies and strategic enterprises, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.
"As for system-forming enterprises � [the leaders agreed] to establish personal communication between heads of agencies and heads of these enterprises. These are the instructions given as a result of this communication in order for us to stop the downward trend in our bilateral relations, because this is the basis of our ties," Peskov said, as quoted by Vesti.ru news portal.
On Monday, Lukashenko met with Putin in Sochi where the Russian president confirmed Moscow would lend Minsk $1.5 billion amid the current crisis in Belarus.
Mass protests in Belarus have been ongoing for over a month now. People took to the streets in Minsk and other big cities after the opposition denounced the official presidential election results � according to which Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the vote � and claimed instead that Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, an opposition candidate, won the election.
