Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko recounts how he warned Putin of assassination plot danger

MINSK, 31 December (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the media how he warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of an assassination plot danger, commenting on the recent attack by Ukrainian drones on the Russian president’s residence in Novgorod Oblast, BelTA has learned.

“Tonight, I recalled a conversation with Putin. I think it was before the BRICS summit in South Africa. He was packing his suitcases. I said: ‘Where are you going?’ He replied: ‘What, don’t you know? We have the BRICS summit.’ I asked: ‘Are you planning to fly there?’ It was a friendly, conversation. I told the elder brother: ‘Are you planning to fly there?’ He said: ‘Well, they invited me, I’m expected there.’ I said: ‘Are you crazy? There’s a war going on!’ ‘Well, they are not that crazy anymore, not that extreme.’ I replied: ‘Are you suggesting they’re all sane over there? You shouldn’t go at all!’ Lavrov was the one who went there. Maybe not because I pressed him. But I expressed my opinion to him,” Aleksandr Lukashenko shared the details.

“But this was not just some, you know, casual talk. Our intelligence, and they’ve been doing a good job lately, informed us that there are some conversations, rumors from the West, that a terrorist act against the Russian president was being prepared. And I often tell him: ‘Well, there’s a war going on, you shouldn’t fly there. If someone needs something, they will fly to you,” the Belarusian president said. “He invited us to St. Petersburg. His closest friends flew there. And others will follow, including Xi Jinping, people from Iran and other states. However, one must be cautious. Some people are not to be trusted. But I told him: ‘You know best. You worked in the intelligence, it’s your area of expertise.’ So it wasn’t so much carelessness as a certain lapse in vigilance.”

“Today I thought about how right I was when I warned and cautioned him. It is clear that they all in the West understand: if you remove Putin, and everything will be different. This must be taken seriously. I am telling this for the first time today because one must not be careless. They have deceived, and he admits it, constantly,” the Belarusian leader said.

In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled the situation at the very beginning of the confrontation in 2022. “In the first months and weeks, when Russian forces were at Kiev’s gates. Then the Catholics and Jews – these two powerful groups – stepped forward: ‘We must end the war!’ Putin agreed: ‘Yes, we must end it.’ After trading heavy blows, they said: ‘Let’s stop. Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin], just pull back the troops and it’s over, we’ve made peace, we’ve ceased hostilities’ [as they assured him]. Did they stop? No. Which proves they cannot be trusted,” the head of state said.

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