Belarus' Decision on Recognition of DPR, LPR Will Be Joint With Russia, Lukashenko Says

Earlier, the Russian Parliament, the Duma, voted in favour of requesting the president to recognise the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics. Commenting on the request, Putin said that Russia will always act in Donbass' interests and stressed the importance of the Minsk agreements.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has stated that any decision on recognising the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk People's Republics (LPR) will be made jointly with Russia. He added that this decision will be mutually beneficial.

"We will negotiate with Putin on how we should act so that it would benefit both Russia and Belarus. But it will be a joint decision", the Belarusian president said responding to a question about recognising DPR and LPR.

Lukashenko noted that, in his view, if the Ukrainian leadership had wanted to end the conflict in the Donbass region, it would have already stopped it.

"What we can do? We have President [Vladimir] Putin, we have President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, [Belarus] will do whatever they want. There is only one goal - peace in the Donbass region. We are ready to do everything [for it]", Lukashenko said.

Putin on DPR, LPR Recognition

The Belarusian president's comments come in the wake of the Russian Parliament, the Duma, voting overwhelmingly in favour of requesting the president to recognise the two self-proclaimed People's Republics in the Donbass region. Putin did not give a definite answer to the request, only promising that Russia will bear Donbass' interests in mind before making any move.

The Russian president also stressed the importance of the Minsk agreements, expressing the belief that there was still potential for their implementation, despite Kiev's systematic failure to honour them.

The Minsk Accords were the result of negotiations launched in 2015 to stop the domestic conflict that had erupted in Ukraine's east following a Western-backed coup in Kiev. The two regions of Donbass rebelled against the new nationalist-minded authorities, fearing that their right to freely speak Russian – one of the dominant local languages – will be infringed upon.