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Lukashenko: Belarus-Ukraine political relations at their lowest point

MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) – Belarus-Ukraine political relations are at their lowest point, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the Big Conversation with the President, a meeting with the public, experts and media community in the format of a big press conference in Minsk on 9 August, BelTA has learned.

“You ruin our relations with different fake stories and nastiness,” the Belarusian leader said. As an example of misinformation he mentioned the story with head of the Belarusian House in Ukraine Vitaly Shishov, who was found hanged, and the accusations against Belarus and its alleged involvement in it. “Who is Vitaly Shishov for me and for Belarus in general? Let’s say that I as president could have not known about him. But I am pretty sure that only three or four persons in this room knew about him. He was a nobody for us. There are no such crazies here in Belarus who would decide to go after and hang him. What for? It is elementary: there is one person dead, tomorrow there will be another,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Why is Ukraine blowing this out of proportion?”

The head of state warned against spreading fake stories and speculative accusations. First of all, the Ukrainian authorities should conduct an objective investigation and determine all the circumstances of the accident with Shishov. “He was in Ukraine, and he was supported by the security services of Ukraine. You know what they were doing. He stayed in your country. He either hanged himself or was hanged in your country. Please carry out the investigation and then answer who hanged the citizen of Belarus,” the president emphasized. In his words, even U.S. mass media criticized Ukraine for this approach.

“We were not trying to fuel tensions around it. But mass media started spreading fake news about it [Belarus’ involvement in the death of Shishov], even started accusing high-ranking people in Belarus,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “It has to be sorted out. If you make any accusations against us, then provide facts.”

“We have other things to deal with. And we have never pointed a finger at anybody. We could have liquidated those who attempted to kill Azarenok? It was easy. No one would have pointed a finger at us. They were gangsters, and they attempted to kill a person. But I ordered to take them alive and to deal with them,” the Belarusian leader added. He also mentioned the unsolved murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet in Ukraine. “How many years ago did it happen? Russia was blamed back then. And where are the investigation results? Why aren’t there any results?” the president wondered.

Returning to the topic of bilateral; relations with Ukraine, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The political relations are at a very low point, and the red line was crossed when Ukraine had stopped air travel with Belarus even before it was done by the European Union. Why? It’s sad to see them stoop to such nastiness and ruin everything we had built before, everything we had done for Ukraine.”

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