Belarus Leader Meets Putin in Moscow to Discuss Key Alliance Treaty

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on Feb. 17, 2023. (Photo by Vladimir Astapkovich / SPUTNIK / AFP) Photo by VLADIMIR ASTAPKOVICH/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a meeting in Moscow on April 6 to discuss a decades-old treaty on economic and defense cooperation between the two countries.

In effect since 1999, the Union State treaty is aimed at cementing ties between the two former Soviet republics.