Lukashenko called the mass arrest of Russian citizens a “trifle” and a “speck of dust”
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko considers the incident with the arrest of 33 Russians near Minsk in July 2020 a “trifle” and a “speck of dust”.
He stated this in an interview with Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“And we accused, and I accused... Is this a reason for concern in Russia? This is a small thing in our relationship. For me, this was a speck of dust in our relations with Russia. Was this why we had to start a fight? Never. And I understand this, and so does the President of Russia. This is not the case for us to clinch,” Lukashenko said.
According to him, at first he “absolutely” believed the version that the Russians arrived in Belarus to destabilize the situation before the presidential elections, and was “very offended” by Russia. Lukashenko, hot on his heels, called Russian President Vladimir Putin several times and made claims.
“He didn’t just say it. When the time comes, I’ll tell you how it all happened... When we detained these guys, we handed over the entire FSB materials, and we had a tough conversation with Putin. Then the Russians didn’t tell us that there was some kind of “mole” there. They began to investigate this. I spoke with Putin three times on this topic. He says: “wait, now we will investigate and see where the legs grow from.” And this only became clear a week later, a few days later,” Lukashenko said.
Let us remind you that 33 Russians, among whom were former Donbass militias, were allegedly lured to work abroad by the Ukrainian special services, intending to land their plane while flying over Odessa and arrest them. The security guards were flying through Minsk. There, the Belarusian KGB intervened and arrested the Russians, accusing them of preparing provocations before the presidential elections. They were tortured in the cells.
Lukashenko only recently stopped calling the illegally detained Russians “Wagnerites” and accepted the version of the incident as a Ukrainian provocation, which was voiced by the Russian media from the very beginning.
Earlier, Lukashenko stated that the private security officers represented the Russian special services and shielded the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, whose office the Ukrainian opposition and the scandalous “investigation” bureau “Belingcat” accused of “leaking” the details of the operation to the Belarusian special services.
In the retelling of the Belarusian president, his son Viktor helped the Russians, and they cried and asked permission to return, although in fact Lukashenko Jr. was forced to apologize for the illegal detention, which was authorized by his father.
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