Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at a joint press conference in Minsk with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday, said that Russia does not want to “absorb” anyone, and that unspecified “enemies” wanted to stop Russia’s integration with Belarus.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that Belarus was Russia’s “number one ally” but that suggestions Moscow aims to pressure Minsk into joining what it calls its “special military operation” were “stupid and unfounded fabrications”.
Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev had said he believed the talks would address “further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground”.
Putin’s trip for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was his first to Minsk since 2019 – before the COVID pandemic and a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2020 that Lukashenko crushed with strong support from the Kremlin.
Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in February, and there has been Russian and Belarusian military activity there for months.
via Reuters
