Putin ‘delayed invasion three times’; ‘very high risk’ of Russian offensive towards Moldova next year | War latest

We’ve been reporting today on Vladimir Putin’s trip to Minsk – his first in more than three years.

He has been meeting his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko for highly anticipated talks, which had been billed as a “working visit”.

However, Ukrainian officials have expressed fears that Mr Putin’s agenda could be to pressure Belarus into getting more involved in Russia’s war. 

This has been dismissed by the Kremlin as “stupid”.

In a joint news conference, Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko lauded their ever-closer ties but they hardly mentioned the conflict. 

None of the journalists invited to speak asked the leaders about the war, and instead the conversation remained on the countries’ close economic, industrial and defence partnerships. 

The political opposition in Belarus has warned Russia could annex or “absorb” its much smaller neighbour. 

But both Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko dismissed the idea, with the Russian leader saying: “Russia has no interest in absorbing anyone.

“There is simply no expediency in this… It’s not a takeover, it’s a matter of policy alignment.”

The one-on-one meeting between the two leaders was preceded by a wider meeting including the countries’ foreign and defence ministers. 

Belarus said there had been agreement on a new price for supplies of Russian gas, although did not provide further details. 

Mr Lukashenko also thanked Mr Putin for fulfilling a promise to upgrade Belarus’ Russian-built military jets and supply it with nuclear-capable Iskander-M tactical missile systems to defend itself against what he called the threat from the West.