After attack on Russian jet: several suspects arrested in Belarus

Status: 07.03.2023 2:22 p.m

At the end of February, the exile opposition reported an attack on a Russian military aircraft in Belarus. The ruler Lukashenko also said: More than 20 people had been arrested in connection with the incident.

The country’s authorities arrested more than 20 people after the attack on a Russian military plane at an airfield in Belarus in February. The main suspect works for both the Ukrainian and US secret services, the Belta news agency quoted Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as saying.

“More than 20 of his accomplices” were also arrested, and others went into hiding abroad, Lukashenko said. He wants to find other people involved.

The Kremlin has not yet commented

The Belarusian exile opposition reported at the end of February that a Russian military aircraft had been destroyed at the airfield in Matschulishchi near the capital Minsk. According to media reports, it is said to have been an A-50 reconnaissance aircraft.

The Kremlin did not comment on the incident; Lukashenko has now confirmed that the attack was aimed at an “A-50”. However, the machine was not badly damaged. About the main suspect, the ruler said that he has Russian and Ukrainian citizenship and was recruited by the Ukrainian services in 2014. The attack was carried out with the help of a small drone to avoid radar detection, Lukashenko said.

Opposition: Belarusians damaged jet

“Hundreds, if not thousands” of members of the Belarusian security forces have been deployed to search; Finally, the suspect was arrested in a basement. The Belarusian exile opposition, on the other hand, said the attack on the plane was carried out by two Belarusians who then left the country.

While Belarus is not directly involved in the Russian war in neighboring Ukraine, it does allow Russian troops to use its territory. According to information from Kiev, Moscow uses Belarusian airfields to fly attacks on Ukraine from there.

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