Putin is helping Lukashenko with billions, Orban was also mentioned at the meeting.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko took part in his first overseas visit on Friday since a nationwide wave of protests against him broke out a month ago. In Sochi, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who offered him a 1.5 billion dollar loan (more than 400 billion guilders) to deal with the short-term economic crisis.

“Some recent events have shown that we must stay closer to our older brothers and work together in all areas, including the economy,” Lukashenko of the Belarusian state news agency Belta quotes.

Lukashenko said that 10 million people work in Russia for companies that have business partners in Belarus. “If we multiply that by four people per family, that’s 40 million people. This means that we work very closely in the manufacturing industry. (…) We export 48 percent of the products produced in Belarus to Russia, which is our main export market, ”he said.

Then the Hungarian Prime Minister was mentioned. “I once asked my friend Viktor Orbán about cooperation with other countries, especially in the EU. I think that’s what he said, 90 percent of Hungary’s trade is with Germany. “

Putin’s spokesman said the Russian president supports Lukashenko’s constitutional reform, which the Belarusian opposition views as a bogus measure, writes The Guardian.

Analysts say Putin does not like or trust the Belarusian president, but is interested in having a possibly weakened Lukashenko move closer to Russia and even lead the two countries towards some kind of reunification.

Svyatlana Cihanousskaya, a Russian opposition leader who fled to Lithuania and stood in the rigged elections against Lukashenko, said whatever was agreed would be invalid as soon as a new government came to power.