Russia
Putin receives Belarusian ruler Lukashenko
Vladimir Putin (l) and Alexander Lukashenko at a meeting last June. photo
© Gavriil Grigorov/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa
Russia’s President Putin is meeting once again with the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko, his most loyal ally. It is also about the fighters of the private army Wagner.
For the second time since the beginning of the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia President Vladimir Putin received the allied Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. The two visited a museum honoring the Russian Navy not far from the Russian Baltic Sea metropolis of St. Petersburg. According to the Kremlin chief, the working visit will continue on Monday.
Authoritarian Belarus is considered Russia’s most important ally in the war that has been going on for 17 months. Rockets are fired from Belarusian territory. Once again, Putin and Lukashenko downplayed the ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensive. Lukashenko said: “There is no counter-offensive.” Putin replied: “It exists. But it failed.” Ukraine started its counter-offensive to liberate occupied territories a few weeks ago. She’s not progressing as quickly as she’d hoped.
Lukashenko also commented on soldiers from the Russian private army Wagner, who were resettled in Belarus after a failed uprising against Moscow. “The Wagner people started trying to make an effort for us,” he said. The mercenaries wanted to “take a trip to Warsaw and Rzeszów,” he added. Both are cities in Poland. Lukashenko assured that the mercenaries would remain stationed in central areas of Belarus.
Poland’s government had previously expressed concern that Russian fighters were now in the neighboring country. Therefore, Polish troops are to be transferred towards the border with Belarus.