MINSK, 1 June (BelTA) - The Belarusian government will provide all possible support to the national airline Belavia, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss cooperation with Russia in Minsk on 1 June, BelTA has learned.
"You know my position: Belavia had nothing to do with the so-called incident. The company did not land the plane, neither did it fly it. It has nothing to do with it. This is the blatant error of the West that has linked the company with that incident," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Now Belarus and Russia are working on new flights for Belavia. It is expected that the airline will not only operate more flights to Moscow and St. Petersburg but will fly to other Russian cities, including sea resorts.
Since Belarus has recreation centers on the Black Sea, near Sochi and Tuapse, I asked Russian partners to allow Belavia to fly to Sochi, Krasnodar Krai and Kazan. We have designated several more cities. I must say that there was no rejection despite the pandemic (Russia is very cautious in this respect), there was no rejection on the part of Vladimir Putin," the president said.
“The main thing for us is to give work to our pilots and to make use of the aircraft that we worked so hard to acquire during difficult times. I promised that we wouldn't leave Belavia high and dry. Whatever it takes, we will provide all-round support. It is a matter of honor for us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Therefore, the minister of foreign affairs, the transport minister need to organize the implementation of our agreements as soon as possible so that the Belavia workforce (almost 2,000 people) should have a job and be sure that the government would not give up on them. They have suffered for nothing."
At the same time, the head of state asked Belarusians to pay more attention to their native country and domestic tourism. "I am saddened by the fact that Belarusians, especially young people, do not know Belarus well. They are well familiar with the United Arab Emirates, Montenegro, Turkey or Spain's Barcelona, but they do not know Belarus. Beautiful places are many. So I would urge Belarusians not to seek to fly to some distant places with three or four layovers. But if someone has already bought tickets or if someone wants to travel to other countries, well, let them. We cannot stop them,” the president noted.
