The leader from Minsk, Alexandr Lukashenko, revealed on Thursday that he recently received representatives from the presidency in Kiev at Minsk. The meeting took place against the backdrop of escalating tensions between Belarus and Ukraine.
Lukashenko told about the meeting with the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyev. In his opinion, Kiev understands the position of the authorities in Minsk, writes Agerpres.
“If Zelensky believes that he can talk to us like this and then draw us into war, he must understand that the nature of the war will change radically. We do not want war,” Lukashenko said.
Recently, Zelensky asked Lukashenko to disconnect equipment that corrects the trajectory of Russian drones, located on the territory of Belarus. The leader from Kiev has issued an ultimatum in this regard to his counterpart from Minsk and claims that the devices have been turned off. Lukashenko has neither confirmed nor denied this information publicly.
On the other hand, Lukashenko has stirred up social networks with the suggestion that he is about to embark on a long-term trip soon. He did not specify where he will go or when, but some voices have characterized his statements as an attempt to flee, in the context of the pressures exerted on him by Kiev and Moscow.
Russia also denies that it would try to involve Belarus in the war and also conveyed on Thursday that it will support this allied country in accordance with the bilateral security agreements signed.
But Ukraine is also concerned about the cooperation between Moscow and Minsk in areas other than the military, especially the energy assistance that Belarus provides to Russia while the latter’s refineries are systematically attacked by Ukrainian drones, attacks that have caused a fuel crisis in Russia.
Thus, in the first five months of this year, railway transports of gasoline from refineries in Belarus to Russia have increased nearly 13 times compared to the same period last year, while diesel transports from Belarus have tripled, according to Reuters sources.
In the ultimatum addressed to the Belarusian president last week, Zelenski also asked him to stop supplying fuel to Russia.