Lukashenko stands for freedom of movement across border with Russia
During today’s meeting with Governor of Russia’s Smolensk Region Vasily Anokhin, Head of State Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke in favour of ensuring freedom of movement across the border of Belarus and Russia, BelTA reports
The Head of State noted that even by the example of his small homeland and that region, he knows how closely the residents of Belarus and the neighbouring Smolensk Region communicate with each other. Russians often come to shop or even take a dip in the Trofimova Krinitsa spring well, which was once built by Aleksandr Lukashenko’s grandfather. There’s a whole queue. From where? From the Smolensk Region, even more than Belarusians. I am always happy about it,” the President pointed out. “Orsha and Smolensk were inseparable lands. We have always been friends and liaised with each other. In sports, we played football, we had teams all the time: village against village, it happened. That’s why, your region is very close and familiar to me.”
“But in order for everything to be normal, it is necessary to ensure freedom of movement for people. When they tell me that somewhere there, on the border with the Smolensk Region, someone is checking, detaining… It makes me feel bad. Why do we check each other? If someone needs to bypass our posts, they will do it a thousand times over. They know all these paths,” the Head of State said.
He stressed that Belarus does not hinder close communication and travels of citizens of the two states. “We don’t hinder it. Let people go wherever they want – to the Smolensk Region. And, conversely, we don’t even know who comes from the Smolensk Region. That is why we should not slow down people in this respect in any case. It is very important,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
