The Belarusian leader noted that he would like to discuss in detail the work of the Belarus President Administration. He congratulated Natalya Kochanova on her new appointment. “I would like you to stay agile, because you will have to perform some of the duties you performed in your previous role (I have already spoke about them), in particular in Minsk [Natalya Kochanova is also the president's envoy to Minsk]. You will also need to help Igor Sergeyenko to get the hang of things in his new capacity as soon as possible,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

In this regard, the president noted that a series of holidays and related events are to be held from 25 December to 10 January: “This period will be packed with events. The president will take part in them nearly every day.”

“I have just talked to the Russian premier. We have agreed to meet in the run-up to New Year (though it is still unclear how to arrange it taking into consideration my plans in Belarus and his plans in Russia). We will be able to compare notes with the president and the prime minister of Russia. There are some issues that are within the scope of reference of our governments. I would like to discuss some of them with Dmitry Medvedev,” the Belarusian leader said.

“He said he would be glad to have an opportunity to meet somewhere. He said that he can come to Minsk. I think we will find a place to hold a meeting. Maybe, another meeting with the Russian president will take place after 20 December. We need to come to terms on the most sensitive issues for our states and economies,” the president added.