MINSK, 7 February (BelTA) – When Pavel Latushko returned from France where he had served as Belarus' ambassador, there was a proposal not to include him in the president's personnel register, Belarusian President Aleksandr said in an interview with the VGTRK journalist, radio and TV host Vladimir Soloviev, BelTA has learned.
The question about Pavel Latushko was raised by Vladimir Soloviev who noted that many people view it as a story of personal betrayal or disappointment. “I talked to one of those who speak out against you now. Yet, you were the one who fostered Latushko,” he said.
“As far as this individual is concerned, it was my fault, I was too soft even at the last stage, when he returned from France where he had worked as an ambassador. Makei [Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs], the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested not including him into the president's personnel registry and letting him figure out his life and career on his own instead. But he was on his knees asking me to send him to the Yanka Kupala Theater, our main, national theater, which, by the way, I raised from the ashes,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
“When Makei suggested not appointing him, I said: listen, the guy has returned, he is a Belarusian and so on, let's appoint him to the theater, give him a job. And I appointed him. Had I listened to Makei, I would not have appointed him and would have done the right thing. When announcing the appointment, I told him: “You know, Pavel, God forbid, you betray the country. I will handle it if you betray me, but I will ‘hang' you if you betray the country. I said it jokingly. It turned out that he quickly switched allegiance and did what he did. The fact that our artists behaved this way is mostly because they were lost, not because they are enemies,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president added that he knew all the actors at the Kupala Theater and supported them. “The theater would have long been gone, and the reason for this is our nationalists, oddly enough. They abandoned it and did not care about it. You will not be able to name a single major cultural facility that was not financed and revived by Lukashenko, from the capital city to oblast capitals and district capitals. There is nothing to invest financially anymore as far as culture is concerned,” he said.
