Lukashenko: Other ex-USSR republics could join Union State

PanARMENIAN.Net - President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko believes that the Union State of the two countries could attract other states as well.

"I'm sure other republics of the former Soviet Union will also join such an alliance," he said at a meeting with Governor of the Voronezh Region Alexander Gusev Thursday, April 28, TASS reports.

Lukashenko noted that he sees a big interest from Russian regions in developing cooperation with Belarus.

"Thanks to you, we have this cooperation and are trying to build a single Union State on new principles so that no one is offended, so that sovereign, independent states – Belarus and Russia – develop," he said.

Lukashenko said in February the the Union State could in the near future include other countries as well, such as Armenia, which he said "can't escape it".

"Armenia can't escape it. You think anyone needs them? They have already seen it," Lukashenko said back then.

The Union State is a supranational organization consisting of Russia and Belarus, "with the stated aim of deepening the relationship between the two states through integration in economic and defense policy."