Lukashenko says Belarus has no disagreements with Russia

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus has no disagreements with Russia, dismissing what he described as criticism of his country's multi-vector foreign policy, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

Lukashenko pushed back on suggestions that Minsk was distancing itself from Moscow, TASS reported, though the report did not specify who had made such suggestions or in what forum Lukashenko's remarks were delivered.

Belarus has long pursued what its leadership calls a multi-vector policy, seeking to balance its close economic and military ties with Russia against periodic outreach to other countries, though in practice Minsk has aligned closely with Moscow on most major foreign policy issues, including its support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

TASS's report did not include specific examples of the criticism Lukashenko was responding to, nor did it detail any particular policy area, such as trade, security cooperation or diplomatic engagement, that had prompted questions about the direction of Belarus-Russia relations.

Belarus has served as a staging ground for Russian military operations since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the two countries maintain a Union State framework covering areas including defense, economic integration and, more recently, discussions of stationing Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory.