Forum of Regions in Minsk Talks and remembrance

Jun 25

Vitaly Eliseev introduces Anatoly Lazarev's Minsk report on the 13th Forum of Regions and Matviyenko's delegation programme. It carries Lukashenko's regional-cooperation and shared-homeland statements at the Matviyenko meeting, her sympathy over the Bryansk attack on Belarusian children and her thanks for presidential support of regional ties. It describes the exhibition, then shows a separate meeting with Vorobyov: Lukashenko cites turnover above fifteen billion without a spoken currency; Vorobyov describes growing cooperation and planned MAZ headquarters/service-bureau expansion. Lukashenko publicly recounts a recent conversation with Zelenskyy's representatives, warns that drawing Belarus into the war would change its character, urges negotiations, rejects a need to enter the war and pledges to stay beside Russia. Lazarev claims Russia has withstood Western sanctions, reports prior-year bilateral trade near 4.5 trillion rubles and previews next day's main business programme and planned agreements. He reports Matviyenko and Kochanova laying a wreath, greeting the Hero Cities rally and making shared-remembrance remarks. The package then reports Matviyenko attending the Mamkin monument unveiling and recalls the April 1944 rescue during Operation Zvezdochka, a burning aircraft, a head wound and the children's survival, attributing a final question about their safety to Mamkin. Plans, political claims and historical retellings retain attribution; the report does not establish a peace agreement, a completed MAZ expansion or the next day's signatures.

At their June 25 meeting in Minsk, Lukashenko credits direct regional ties with preserving Belarus–Russia relations during difficult earlier years and describes the Forum of Regions as producing concrete contracts worth billions of rubles. He thanks Matviyenko for parliamentary patronage of regional cooperation and places it alongside pressing security concerns. Matviyenko thanks both presidents for supporting regional links, which she calls the Union State's backbone. These are their assessments; the passages announce no particular newly signed contract.