RUSSIA: LUKASHENKO & YELTSIN SIGN UNION TREATY

Russian/Nat

Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko put their signatures on the Russia-Belarus Union Treaty on Wednesday.

The pact is mostly a symbolic union, bringing the former Soviet republics closer, but not creating a single state.

At the signing ceremony in the Kremlin, Yeltsin said the two countries were not uniting against anyone, not even the United States President, Bill Clinton.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko flew into Moscow on Wednesday morning for the signing of the Russia-Belarus Union Treaty.

At the airport he was met by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

The treaty will create much closer economic and political ties between Belarus and Russia.

Both leaders expressed their enthusiasm for the agreement.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"I would like to add that it is a question of political and economical advisability for the people of both states."
SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister

The Belarus leader then headed to the Kremlin to meet Russian President Boris Yeltsin and sign the treaty at an official ceremony.

The signing had originally been scheduled for November 26 but was postponed because of Boris Yeltsin's recent illness.

At the signing, which took place in the Kremlin's lavish St. George's Hall, Yeltsin declared that the treaty was not a pact against anyone, including the United States.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"The union between Russia and Belarus is based on the preservation of the sovereignty and independence of the participating countries. The union has not been formed against anyone, even against US President Bill Clinton."
SUPER CAPTION: Boris Yeltsin, Russian President

Lukashenko expressed relief that, despite criticism, the union had gone forward.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)
"Many did not believe that in the wake of the economic and political ruin of the former Soviet Union, this integration could be realized. We have shown that is not just a possibility but a reality."
SUPER CAPTION: Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus President

Lukashenko has been the treaty's main advocate since his 1994 election.

The union treaty signing comes on the eighth anniversary of the Belovezhskaya Agreement, signed in December of 1991 by the leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, officially dissolving the Soviet Union.

The new agreement provides for joint institutions and a common currency by 2005.
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