Belarus did not exclusively pursue its own interests by joining the Customs Union with Russia and Kazakhstan and the Union State with Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday.

Speaking at a meeting with Customs Union Commission Secretary Sergei Glazyev in Minsk, the Belarus leader said the former Soviet republic would "never stand in the way" of progress in such groups and alliances.

The Customs Code, making the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan fully operational, came into force in early July amid much skepticism from Lukashenko, who said later that Russia "doesn't really need it."

Lukashenko also complained that the Union State was not going to plan.

"We are not to blame," he said. "We never had the resources to hold back [the development of] the Union State of Russia and Belarus. It was set up to provide an example of how things should be, but so far it has been the very opposite."

MOSCOW, July 22 (RIA Novosti)