President Vladimir Putin arrived in Minsk on Thursday for a new round of Russia-Belarus unification talks with his counterpart Alexander Lukashenko.
The two leaders were due to focus on a proposal to unite the two nation's currencies, which would require a Moscow loan to Minsk of up to 250 million dollars, Russia's NTV private television reported.
The money would be used by the Belarus central bank to stabilize that politically isolated nation's currency, which has been in a free-fall for years.
The Russian government is already scheduled to issue Belarus a 30 million-dollar currency-stabilization loan in December.
On Friday, Putin is also set to attend a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a loose union grouping all of the former Soviet republics except for the three Baltic states.
Moscow and Minsk have for years been discussing ways to forge a formal union, although some Russian politicians have recently cooled on the idea, concerned with both Belarus's economic malaise and Lukashenko's authoritarian streak.
In early November, Moscow and Minsk nations agreed to use the Russian ruble in both countries from 2005 until a new common currency is introduced in 2008.
Under the accord, the ruble would be used by both states from January 1, 2005, with Moscow responsible for printing and distribution.
Moscow and Minsk signed a union treaty on January 26, but its application has been hampered by differences in their respective legislation and economic conditions.
Putin is being accompanied to Minsk by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, who is set to meet with his cabinet-chief counterparts later Thursday to put the finishing touches on the presidential summit – MINSK (AFP)
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