Moscow, 9 September 1996 (RFE/RL) - Belarus' President Aleksandr Lukashenka met last Saturday in Moscow with Defense Minister Igor Rodionov and National Security Secretary Aleksandr Lebed, Russia's Defense Ministry disclosed today.
Lukashenka requested the meeting, an official of the information department of Russia's Defense Ministry told RFE/RL. According to Lebed's press service, the three men discussed moving nuclear missiles from Belarus to Russia as called for under International treaties.
Other details of the meeting were not officially disclosed. But a high-ranking Russian defense ministry official says Lebed, Rodionov and Lukashenka also focused on the NATO alliance's planned eastward expansion. Lukashenka has supported Moscow's opposition to the expansion.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin's press service denied a report that Lukashenka also met Russian President Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin is resting outside Moscow ahead of heart surgery this month.