Belarusian Foreign Minister Maksim Ryzhankou will not attend the first meeting of the Peace Council in Washington, Radio Svaboda reported, citing official US sources.
According to the outlet, there will be no representatives of Belarus at the February 19 meeting at all.
On February 11, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said he would not travel to the Peace Council in the United States because he received the invitation too late, when his schedule had already been formed. Today, he met with Chair of the Senate of Zimbabwe Mabel Memory Chinomona. Another reason cited by Lukashenka for not going to the United States was logistical difficulties due to EU sanctions.
Later, Lukashenka rejected suggestions that Vladimir Putin had allegedly barred him from travelling to the Peace Council. He added that Belarus does not intend to allocate billions to Gaza and said he would like to attend other council meetings “not in Washington, somewhere in Europe or in the Middle East, perhaps in Israel, or closer here in Turkey,” when the issue of Ukraine is discussed.
Lukashenka’s press secretary Natallia Eismant had earlier said that Belarus would be represented in Washington by Foreign Minister Ryzhankou.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has not yet issued any official comments.
