Lukashenko blackmails Zelensky, threatening to let Belavia into Simferopol
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that the issue of air communication between Minsk and Simferopol is being studied.
He stated this today at a meeting on cooperation with Russia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“One more nuance. Ukraine closed the sky for us. We have our own sanatorium in Crimea, where people have always traveled and flown. In order not to aggravate relations, we are going through Ukraine, some by train, some by car, some by plane. Now the sky is closed. I told Putin: “I ask you to think about how we can get to Crimea,” Lukashenko said.
Answering a journalist’s question, he assured that the opening of flights would not affect the economy of Belarus (previously they were afraid of losing the opportunity to import goods to Ukraine).
“There will be an economy - both Crimea and flights. We will resolve all these issues. As for Crimea, we will work on this issue. We cannot forbid you to fly to Crimea if you have been vacationing there all the time. Some through Ukraine, some by train, some by car, some by plane. I remember I asked Poroshenko how I could get to Crimea now. He said: no question, but I ask you - only through Ukraine. Today I would like to ask Zelensky a question. If I want to fly to Crimea, how should I feel today? Only through Russia. Therefore, today I will have to ask President Putin to somehow take me to Crimea. Maybe we’ll board the schooner that we negotiated with him and go to Crimea. I am absolutely free here and don’t worry. They staged this gimmick, this combination at the level of provocation. Bribes from me are fine, just like from other Belarusians,” Lukashenko emphasized.
There is no logic in this statement. Previously, Belarusians could fly to Crimea only through Russia. There were no air connections with Minsk and Kiev. Therefore, today's statement can be seen as blackmail forcing Ukraine to open the skies.
The blockade of southern air routes will greatly increase the cost of routes to southern resorts for wealthy Russians. Belavia has already changed the routes and prices of charter flights to Egypt and Turkey.
Maybe that’s why commentators loyal to Lukashenko focus not on the ownership of Crimea, but on the treachery of Ukraine.
“This decision has been coming for a long time. In Kyiv they did everything possible for this. However, Kyiv’s position need not even be discussed. We are talking about the targeted strategy of the Americans to sever ties between Ukraine and Belarus as one of the important stages on the path of civilizational raiding. Well, in this case, our country reacts according to the situation,” political scientist Alexander Shpakovsky wrote in his Telegram channel.
“I support the President! The Ukrainian government is pursuing a policy against its own national interests. The latest decisions of official Ukraine are shooting themselves in the foot. We act exactly as we should,” declares the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus, Oleg Gaidukevich.
Belarusian political scientist Igor Tyshkevich, who fled to Ukraine, recalls that the director of Belavia, Igor Cherginets, the day before, categorically spoke out against flights to Crimea, and offers a half-way solution to the problem.
“As a result of possible agreement to this option, Belarus will pass the point of no return in relations with Ukraine (champagne will be opened in the Russian Federation for the first time). And also, if this becomes possible using the Belavia aviation fleet, it will be the end of this airline (in the Russian Federation they will drink for the second time to celebrate). And so, in small steps, in a year and a half, it is possible to create conditions under which there will be no options left for Minsk. In this whole story, there is only one small hope for Belavia - categorically not to go on direct flights, but to agree only to “connections” with Russian air carriers flying there,” Tyshkevich wrote.
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