The talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko held on Wednesday were substantive and ended well past midnight, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Ahead of [a Supreme State Council meeting], the two leaders held a very long and substantive discussion. It ended well past midnight," Peskov said.
According to the spokesman, Putin and Lukashenko met for tete-a-tete talks in the Kremlin on Wednesday. The leaders discussed bilateral and international issues. Putin stressed that a lot has been done in all domains of joint work between Russia and Belarus. Specifically, he highlighted the results of bilateral economic cooperation, pointing to a 12% increase in trade between the two countries last year.
