А. Lukashenkо had a meeting with the Russian Defense Minister

Andrei Belousov arrived in Belarus on a working visit. The Russian Defense Minister will take part in a number of talks. At the Palace of Independence the parties discussed further work to strengthen the defense space of the Union State. A. Lukashenko paid special attention to the upcoming joint Belarusian-Russian exercises Zapad-2025. They will be held in September. "I want to say that we are ready for the exercise. We're not hiding anything from anyone. We are really demonstrating openness, that these exercises are ours and are defensive in nature. And we are not going to attack anyone, as some people think," the Head of State said. The Russian Defense Minister thanked A. Lukashenko for Belarus' participation in the parade in honour of the 80^th anniversary of the Great Victory in Moscow. A. Belousov presented the President with a set of Soviet decorations that were awarded for battle honours during the Great Patriotic War. The gift is a panel on which life-size copies of the Soviet Union's awards are mounted.