On December 2, Alyaksandar Lukashenka met with the Governor of the Astrakhan region, Igor Babushkin, with whom he discussed economic and humanitarian cooperation. One of the topics of this visit was the discussion about the possible use of the Port of Olya situated near Astrakhan for the transit of Belarusian goods to the Caspian Sea countries. In general, it does not seem that this initiative can bring any visible economic benefits to Belarus as this country does not have any vital trading partners in this region. The trade turnover between Belarus and the Astrakhan region in 2021 has been approximately $23 million – an insignificant sum for Belarus.
In general, after the 2020 elections, Lukashenka has been severely isolated by the international community – his "international" meetings are limited to discussions with the Russian Governors.
On December 3, the Governor of the Astrakhan region also met with the Belarusian Minister of Defense Viktar Khrenin. The main topic of the meeting was the upcoming participation of the Belarusian Air Force and Air Defense troops in military training at the "Ashuluk" training ground (Astrakhan region). In general, this meeting of a Belarusian General with a Russian civilian functionary is quite surprising, given the fact that questions of military exercises lie outside the professional competencies of Russian Governors.
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