The security services of Russia and Belarus said Thursday that they will cooperate more closely to counter what they said were the West's "aggressive policies.”

Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, and the Belarusian Committee for State Security, known as the KGB, made the announcement in identical statements after their heads met in Belarus.  

"In the spirit of traditional brotherly ties, Russia's SVR and Belarus's KGB agreed to conduct joint work to counter the destructive activity of the West aimed at destabilizing the political and socio-economic situation across the Union State," the statements said. 

(Cover: A Ryanair aircraft carrying Belarusian opposition blogger Roman Protasevich lands at Vilnius Airport in Lithuania after diversion, May 23, 2021. /Reuters)