On 19 December, disgraced Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Minsk.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Putin and Lukashenka agreed to deepen cooperation between the two countries.
This includes:
continuation of the practice of joint military exercises;
development of cooperation in various industries, in particular, joint production of new military equipment and creation of the defence space;
training of the crews of Belarusian aircraft, which are re-equipped for the possible use of air munitions with nuclear warheads;
Putin stressed that he has maintained "business relations" with "many colleagues," including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Lukashenka said that Belarus had put on combat duty the S-400 and Iskander systems transferred by Russia.
According to the representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry, Andriy Yusov, Russia tried to get maximum opportunities for the significantly weakened Russian army from the Belarusian defence industry during the talks in Minsk.
According to the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, Putin came to Minsk to discuss with Lukashenka Belarus's existence as an independent state.