SOCHI, 28 May (BelTA) – An attempt is in progress to unsettle the situation in Belarus to the level of August 2020. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement as he met with President of Russia Vladimir Putin in Sochi on 28 May, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I will inform you. I've brought some documents with me since I enjoy such trustful relations with you. I will show them to you so that you could understand what is going on. Ahead of the meeting I will tell you publicly the following things so that you could understand what kind of people they are. Although you and I have discussed many problems in this manner.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded that last year many countries had to evacuate their citizens from other countries amid the restrictions caused by the pandemic. “Probably nobody saved their own people more than Russia did by bringing them home from resorts. You even helped us bring about 200 Belarusians from India. We helped bring home some Russians, [the Belarusian air carrier] Belavia helped with it. Everything was closed back then. One airport in Minsk kept working and we were bringing our people home. They [a number of other countries, including in the European Union and the USA] shut down everything,” the head of state reminded. “They asked Belavia and our company brought home thousands, thousands of people: Swedes, Germans, Poles, Lithuanians (absolutely everything was closed over there), Americans. Thousands were brought to Minsk because it was the only airport that was still open. And then they took Americans from us or we moved them to the USA. You can't imagine how grateful they were to us, to Belavia for the people we'd helped move, for the people we'd saved.”
Continuing the line of thought, Aleksandr Lukashenko drew attention to the response of the same countries to the incident with the Ryanair aircraft, which landed in Minsk due to the tip about a bomb. “This case has nothing to do with Belavia,” he stressed.
“Belavia's aircraft were not involved [in the Ryanair flight incident]. The company is based in the airport. Russian aircraft and aircraft of other countries use the airport. It was someone else's aircraft. They berate the military because we had to land it there. What does Belavia have to do with it? They've pulled all the stops to punish it. If it wasn't for you… I see that Moscow refuses to welcome aircraft that want to fly around Belarus [instead of via Belarus' airspace]. They felt it right away. But why did they have to punish Belavia workers? Because Belavia brought home thousands during the pandemic. That's their face,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.
“I will show you some documents. You will understand what was going on and is going on over there. An attempt is in progress to unsettle the situation up to the level of August 2020,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.
Vladimir Putin recalled how Western countries forced an aircraft of the Bolivian president to land. “The president was escorted off the aircraft and nobody complained,” he remarked.
Aleksandr Lukashenko agreed and noted that other aircraft of various countries had been forced to land and nobody had whined about them. “It is understandable what these Western ‘friends' want from us. There is nothing to talk about… But there were no heights Bolsheviks couldn't beat. We will beat them, too,” the Belarus president stressed.
