On 2 April 1996, President of the Russian Federation B. N. Yeltsin and President of the Republic of Belarus A. G. Lukashenko signed the Treaty on the Establishment of the Community of Belarus and Russia. A year later, on 2 April 1997, the Treaty on the Union of Belarus and Russia was also signed. Since then, 2 April has been officially celebrated as the Day of Unity of the Peoples of Belarus and Russia.