On Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron urged his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, not to let his country be drawn into Russia’s war against Ukraine, during a phone call, reports AFP, citing sources close to the French president.
President Macron “highlighted the risks that exist for Belarus if it gets drawn into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, he invited Aleksandr Lukashenko to make the necessary gestures to improve relations between Belarus and Europe,” the cited source specified.
A statement from the presidency in Minsk only indicated that “the two heads of state discussed regional issues as well as Belarus’ relations with the EU and France, in particular” and that the telephone conversation took place “at the initiative of the French side.”
For several weeks, Ukraine has expressed fears about Russia’s use of Belarus to launch a new offensive from the north towards the capital Kiev, and has announced the strengthening of defense capabilities in the border area.
At the beginning of the invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, Belarus allowed Russian troops to attack from its territory towards the north of Ukraine in the direction of Kiev.
The telephone conversation between Presidents Macron and Lukashenko comes after a series of massive bombings by Moscow, which specifically targeted the capital of Ukraine, leading to the death of at least four people and injuring over a hundred.
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