Russia's Babich to oversee integration effort with Belarus - Putin's spokesman

Former Russian Ambassador to Belarus Mikhail Babich will keep working on the integration in the position of deputy head of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Russian President’s spokesperson Dzmitry Peskov announced on June1. In particular, Babich will be responsible for ‘the coordination and organization of the essential integration work’, TASS quotes Peskov.

Meanwhile, Babich will have ‘a lot of new powers and duties’ in his new position, the Russian leader’s spokesperson added.

Interestingly, it was Babich’s superior, head of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development Maksim Oreshkin, who said that Belarus and Russia had agreed on 90% of their integration approaches. Russia used to mention only 70% earlier.

Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev signed Babich’s appointment to the position on June 15. It was published on the website of the Russian government on June 17.