Minsk industrial talks Integration and rail plans

Oct 1

Anna Kurbatova reports from Minsk on EAEU premiers' INNOPROM visit and Russia–Belarus cooperation. A Minsk Metro example describes Russian train and control systems replacing a Swiss supplier, mixed train operation and prospective driverless use. At the exhibition and plenary, Mishustin discusses machinery, robotics, planned MC-21 deliveries, manufacturing, pharmaceutical and energy projects; the package presents nuclear, additive-manufacturing and medical-device cooperation. Belarus's Alexander Turchin and Kazakhstan's Olzhas Bektenov advocate industrial coordination, while EEC minister Goar Barseghyan describes eight supported projects and financing. The separate Union State Council of Ministers meeting considers a common economic space, trade and industrial, agricultural and digital cooperation. Mishustin cites April cross-border commuter routes and their reported 55,500 passengers, and proposes considering Velikiye Luki links to Vitebsk and Polotsk. The transport ministers sign a Moscow–Minsk high-speed-rail memorandum: a projected roughly 700-kilometre route via Smolensk and three-hour journey. Andrey Nikitin says preliminary feasibility work is beginning for Moscow–Minsk and Moscow–Nizhny Novgorod. The line is planned, not operating. The next day's EAEU intergovernmental meeting is scheduled, not reported as completed.

On October 1, 2026 in Minsk, the Union State Council of Ministers reviews Russian–Belarusian integration, industrial, agricultural and digital cooperation. Vremya reports bilateral trade above four trillion rubles in the preceding year and a further 20% rise in the first eight months of 2026; Turchin describes positive economic growth. Mishustin describes cross-border commuter services launched in April and their reported 55,500 passengers in five months, and proposes considering Velikiye Luki links to Vitebsk and Polotsk. Those extensions are proposals, not operating routes completed that day. In his October 5 cabinet review, Mishustin recalls the same meeting and its joint scientific and technological programmes, transport projects and youth support, and says cooperation will continue to expand. Trade, growth and claimed benefits retain their source attribution.