State news agency BelTA and the website of Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s administration newspaper SB. Belarus Segodnya today published, and later removed, the text of a speech delivered by Belarus’ Permanent Representative to the OSCE Andrei Dapkiunas at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. Neither outlet provided any explanation for the removal.
It is worth noting that Dapkiunas’ speech appeared unusually harsh even by the standards of contemporary Belarusian diplomacy. In it, the representative of the Minsk regime referred to Ukraine as being governed by “Mr. Bean on crack.” Dapkiunas also described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s “de facto leader” and an “animal.”
The Reform.news editorial team managed to save a copy of the controversial text.
