ST. PETERSBURG, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he hoped all members of the March 19 presidential campaign in Belarus would now join forces to advance the country's development.
"I was glad to hear that you are seeking constructive work with all [political forces]," Putin said at a meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko near St. Petersburg.
Putin also said he hoped plans for the union between Russia and Belarus, designed to restore the common political, economic, legal, defense, and humanitarian space of the two former Soviet states, which have largely remained on paper, would be implemented and persisting problems resolved in a new political environment in Belarus.
"Given political stabilization [in Belarus], we believe those problems will start to be resolved," Putin said.
Russia has continued to support Belarus, despite international criticism of the presidential election and the country's general democratic record.
Alexander Milinkevich, the main opposition leader, and four fellow oppositionists were arrested in Minsk, Belarus' capital, Thursday and were jailed for 15-days sentences for attending an April 26 rally.
Milinkevich, the leading opposition candidate in the March presidential poll, came second with just over 6% of the vote. Lukashenko was reelected to a third term with a massive 83% of the vote.
The elections were condemned in the West as undemocratic, and the European Union has banned Lukashenko and some other senior officials from entering the EU and is considering economic sanctions against Belarus.
The opposition also said the vote was flawed and vowed to continue protests.
"We are working quietly despite everything that is going on around us," Lukashenko said, adding that unlike Russia Belarus was not facing the problem of uniting political forces for addressing economic and other key issues.
