Alyaksandr Lukashenka used a visit to the Horizont enterprise to comment on Russia’s statements about an alleged attack on the residence of the Russian president in the Novgorod Region. According to him, this was “the wildest terrorism” aimed at disrupting the peace process, and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy should reach an agreement before it is too late.
“You know, I am a person who is, in general, well informed about President Putin’s movements. Perhaps even more deeply in the know than some others. I am not so much thinking about what happened there. Oh, ah, we condemn it! Of course, this is the wildest terrorism at the highest state level. If this is indeed how it is being presented now,” Lukashenka said.
It should be noted that Zelenskyy has called the Russian side’s statements about the attack false.
“What I am really thinking about is who needed this and what it could have led to. Well, who needed it — I suspect who is standing behind Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy. I think that if he was involved in this, then he did not know what he was doing. That is the first thing,” Lukashenka continued.
He repeated his account that Putin had allegedly been urged to strike Ukrainian government facilities.
“I will tell you even more. When the ‘Oreshnik’ was used for the first time, some hotheads — Putin told me, we discussed it — suggested to him: these terrorists and so on should be hit with a second strike, or even the decision-making centers. Putin categorically rejected this idea from the very outset,” he said.
Lukashenka stressed that in the Russian-Ukrainian war a situation had developed in which top leaders had not been targeted.
“It is not that they agreed not to shoot at each other, but such a situation developed in this war that no one tried to kill the heads of state. No one did this. And here — an attempt to strike one of the president’s residences,” he added.
At the same time, Lukashenka acknowledged that Putin is almost never at that residence.
“Listen, this residence — again, as far as I understand, and I will speak with Putin about this — is such a country house where many, many foreign guests used to come. I remember Putin telling me about Helmut Kohl’s visit. There you can see what Russia is. Listen, Putin is not there at this residence. Only when there were normal relations with the West and other states did heads of state come. And here there was an attempt to strike it. What, did the Ukrainians not know that the president is practically never there? They knew. Then why send 90 or however many — 40 or 50 — drones to that place? Why? There is no sense in it at all,” Lukashenka said.
In his view, even if Putin had been at the residence, the situation on the battlefield would not have changed.
“Would this change anything on the battlefield? No, it would not. That is why I am thinking about who is behind this. First of all, I will not tell you who is behind this. It is clear who. Is Volodymyr Oleksandrovych involved in this or not? I think that if he is involved, then only slightly. This speaks to a high level of danger — that Ukraine is already poorly governed, if he is not behind this. And why is this needed? That is what I am pondering, what I am focused on today. And the fact that this is savagery, stupidity… It is madness. This absolutely did not need to be done. Because it will lead to nothing. That is a fact. That is how I assess it. But time will show what was behind it,” he said, adding that he still wants to reflect further on what happened and gather more information.
At the same time, Lukashenka suggested that the aim of the alleged attack may have been to derail the peace process.
“Perhaps they wanted to provoke Putin at a moment when peace is already right there, close. To disrupt this negotiation process. There is such a point of view. That Putin would go for some kind of escalation, that he would abandon some peaceful path. But already this morning I noticed: nothing of the sort. That is all of Putin. He does not fuss. And he is right. There is no need to rush. There is a peace track — we follow it,” Lukashenka said.
It should be noted that Russia has already announced a tightening of its negotiating position.
“Well, if someone does not want this and continues such provocations, how this will end is also clear. Therefore, I would still… I wanted to say ‘advise’… Well, what is the point of advising them? Advise them or not, they still do things their own way in Ukraine. But I just want to warn that this will end in disaster. Russia has something with which it can strike the decision-making centers so that not one stone is left upon another.
They need to stop. It is necessary that next year they finally reach an agreement on peace. And I would very much like Donald Trump to be sincere in this regard. That this is not a game or a performance in which Trump and the West as a whole, or European states, play the same role. I somewhat suspect that if this is the case, then our ‘brother Englishmen’ are behind this. It is quite possible.
Such moments, when a terrorist attack on a president is carried out, are rare. And it does not happen without someone major approving it. That is from experience.
Volodymyr Oleksandrovych should not go down this path. He has already ruined the flourishing part of Europe. He will finish it off completely. He should not go down this path. He needs, while it is not too late, to reach an agreement,” Lukashenka concluded.
