MOSCOW, Feb 17 - RIA Novosti. Vladimir Putin does not have a joint inspection of military exercises in Belarus together with Alexander Lukashenko in the schedule, but the presidents can agree on "anything" at a meeting on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian leader, said on Thursday.
Earlier, Lukashenko said that he spoke with Putin on Wednesday, discussed the plan for a future meeting and participation in the exercises.
"There is no joint inspection in Putin's schedule, although the presidents can agree on anything. Currently, this is not in the president's schedule," Peskov told reporters. He noted that the exercises are underway, and at the end of one or another phase of the exercises, the troops are withdrawn to their permanent locations. The process will take several weeks, because in a day it is simply impossible to withdraw "everything that has been accumulated there for weeks," and this is "the usual practice of military exercises."
When asked whether, after the end of the exercises, the issue of the prospects for the presence of the Russian military on the territory of Belarus will be considered, Peskov said that "this is out of the question now."
Joint Belarusian-Russian exercises began on February 10 at the combined arms ranges of the Belarusian armed forces. They mark the second stage of the verification of the reaction forces of the Union State, which will last until February 20. The goal is to work out the reflection of external aggression and terrorist attacks.
