Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced in advance that after the meeting neither the signing of documents nor a statement to journalists is expected. Putin usually does not receive foreign guests at the Valdaje residence, the Meduza server noted.
According to the Reuters agency, the meeting is most likely related to the growing tension between Belarus and Ukraine. Its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, warns that Putin is trying to get Lukashenka to increase his support for Russia in the war it has been waging against Ukraine for the fifth year. Moscow and Minsk deny this and claim that it is Ukraine and the West who are raising tensions.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia is pressuring Belarus to use it in the war against Ukraine. Among other things, it threatens to reduce the financial support intended for Minsk. However, the Kremlin rejected the report of the American letter on Thursday and called Belarus Russia’s closest ally.
A better deal than war, Lukashenko told Kyiv
Last Friday, Zelensky gave Lukashenko a week for Belarus to remove relay stations helping to guide Russian drones during attacks on Ukrainian cities, or Ukraine itself will do so. Zelenskyj announced on Wednesday that broadcasters in Belarus have stopped broadcasting since Monday.
A day later, Lukashenko declared that he had recently met with Zelenskyi’s representatives in Minsk, and after them he told Kyiv that it would be better to come to an agreement than to go to war. He received the answer that President Zelensky and his representatives understand it. Ukrainians and Belarusians do not want to fight each other, Lukashenko said during a meeting with Russian ambassador Boris Gryzlov.
Lukashenko repeatedly claims that he will not let his country be drawn into the war, however, at the beginning of the invasion in February 2022, he gave Belarusian territory to Russian forces during the attack on Ukraine. On Thursday, Zelenskyy once again called on Belarus to stop building infrastructure on the border aimed at Ukraine.
