MINSK, 19 July (BelTA) – After the collapse of the USSR, Belarus and Russia lost the system which was unparalleled in the world, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with Chairman of the Communist Party faction in the Russian parliament Gennady Zyuganov on 19 July, BelTA has learned.

“We have lost the country, but the worst thing was that we lost the system which took decades to create and which was unparalleled in the world. If we had polished and improved it, we would have become an absolutely different state even after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” Alexander Lukashenko said. “Today we are demolishing the remnants of that system which we, perhaps, should have preserved, in the economy and especially in the socio-economic development.”

The head of state also remarked that certain problems still exist in the relations of Belarus and Russia. “Although we have made huge progress in our relations, the government of the country is concerned about a number of issues which are hurting people,” the President said.

Gennady Zyuganov agreed with the opinion of the Belarusian President regarding the breakup of the USSR. “We would have been ahead of the curve by now. Now we have come to the point when we are being squeezed out even from the Olympic Games,” the leader of the Communist Party added.