Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated his Belarusian colleague Alexander Lukashenko on his victory in the Belarusian presidential election, the Kremlin press service informed on Monday.

“I expect that your statesmanship will facilitate the further development of mutually beneficial Russian-Belarusian relations in all spheres, as well as the further enhancement of cooperation within the Union State, the strengthening of integration processes within the Eurasian Economic Union and the CIS and of military-political ties within the Collective Security Treaty Organization,” the telegram published by the Kremlin press service says.

“Without a doubt, this serves the core interests of the brotherly nations of Russia and Belarus,” Putin stated.