Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday appointed the country's former Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko as Belarus' ambassador to Russia.
Semashko will concurrently serve as Belarus' plenipotentiary representative to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Economic Council and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Belarus' special representative for integration cooperation affairs in the Belarus-Russia Union State, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the CIS and the CSTO, the press service of the Belarusian leader said.
The head of state said that the biggest challenge facing the new Belarus' ambassador to Russia is to reduce the massive trade deficit.
Vladimir Semashko was deputy prime minister of Belarus from 2014 to August 2018. Before that, he had served for several years as first deputy prime minister.