of the Union. According to State Secretary Borodin, five variants of this Act were discussed at the meeting, each of which would involve a 7 to 10 year transitional period in the Union's development. Trade and energy issues were also discussed. On 27 May 2008, President Lukashenko, acting in his capacity as Chairman of the Supreme State Council named then Russian Prime Minister and current President Putin Chairman of the Council of Ministers. This move raised speculation that the Union was about to undergo a significant political transformation. However, the most visible and arguably important official in the Union has been the State Secretary, who runs the Union State's day-to-day operations. In the same meeting, State Secretary Borodin announced that the 2009 Union State budget would total 6–7 billion roubles, an increase of over 2 billion roubles from 2008. On 1 August 2011, Putin stated he supported a union of Russia, Belarus, and possibly South Ossetia. Belarusian Foreign Minister spokesman Andrei Savinykh rejected the idea, as did Dmitri Medojev, South Ossetia's ambassador to Moscow, who stated "Our people voted for independence in a referendum in 2006 and they do not relish the idea of becoming part of the Russian Federation." Since 2015, focus on developing relations between former members of the Soviet Union is on continued development of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), itself a further development of the Eurasian Customs Union established in 2010. It is modeled on the integration of the European Union and comprises 5 member states: Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan has also expressed an interest in joining. However, the EAEU is only an economic union, and at present, political integration remains within the remit of the Union State. Deeper economic integration is proposed in 2021 within current talks of member states. In November 2021, Russia and Belarus signed an agreement to provide for common policies on taxation, banking, industry, agriculture, and energy. 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, part of which was staged from Belarus' territory, Russia and Belarus came under sanctions and boycotts. On 3 March, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said he stood fully behind Russian president Vladimir Putin's campaign in Ukraine as part of Belarus's longstanding commitment to the union state with Russia. On 14 March, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin met with Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko in Moscow, telling reporters that they "coordinated