Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he is confident that Moscow and Minsk will withstand pressure from the West and not collapse, during a trip to Moscow.
"We will get through all this," he was quoted as saying by the Russian state agency TASS. "And whoever hoped or predicted that we would collapse - we did not collapse."
He admitted that it would not be easy. "But when has it been easy," he added. "We will endure everything."
Lukashenko arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a two-day state visit, to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On the Belarusian leader's first day, Lukashenko and Putin were set to discuss the potential union of their two states. According to Lukashenko, 28 union-related programmes had already been largely implemented.
"Our frequent meetings are to ensure that there are no delays in the implementation of these programmes," he said.
On the second day of their talks, Putin and Lukashenko plan to discuss current political issues, such as the stationing of Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus on the Polish border and Finland's accession to NATO.
