Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko held talks on Saturday in the southern Russian city of Sochi on an “integration road map,” the Reuters news agency reported.
According to Reuters, a lack of detail on what such a pact might include has fuelled fears that Moscow aims to gain new influence in ex-Soviet Belarus as part of a plan to absorb it.
Protests were held in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on Saturday as well as in Warsaw the next day.
Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily reported that around 200 protesters gathered in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw on Sunday to oppose closer integration, which they fear could erode the independence of Belarus, a nation of over 9 million.
Another protest is planned in Warsaw for December 20, when the Russian and Belarusian presidents are to meet in St. Petersburg, Alexander Kornienko, one of the organisers of Sunday’s demonstration, told public broadcaster Polish Radio.
(jh/pk)
Source: Gazeta Wyborcza/Polish Radio/Reuters