Russia-Belarus union issue "not simple"

Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 11 poured cold water on the prospect of reinforcing the largely theoretical union between his country and the former Soviet Republic of Belarus.

The issue of the Russia-Belarus union "is not simple," Putin said after talks here with Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko.

"While opinion polls show that a majority of Belarusian citizens want closer relations with Russia, 50 percent of them also want Belarus to retain its sovereignty," he added.

"This is not simple. How can we move closer together without going against the people's interest?" Putin asked.

Moscow and Minsk signed a union treaty in December 1999 that largely remains a dead letter because of the economic disparities between Russia and economically-backward Belarus.

Lukashenko - who rules his country with an iron hand - visited Moscow in April to sign a series of accords with Putin aimed at pushing forward the process of integration.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that Moscow and Minsk would merge their armed forces over the long term within the framework of the Belarus-Russia union.