Mikheil Saakashvili. Image credit: media.az
MOSCOW, 14 March (BelTA) – Suggestions were made in the past for Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to consider granting asylum to the Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili in Belarus. The head of state made the relevant statement in an interview with Olga Skabeyeva, a TV presenter of the TV channel Rossiya 1, BelTA has learned.
“We had a situation with Mikheil Saakashvili back in the day. Ukrainians or someone else contacted me by saying I should do it because the man is in prison, facing abuse…” the head of state said.
He drew attention to how Americans acted in this case although Mikheil Saakashvili was totally pro-American: “They could have told Georgians back then to release him or to exchange him. No. They didn’t intervene.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko said that back in the day he kept in touch with Mikheil Saakashvili and Russians had been aware of it. “I passed on something [to one side and the other one]. Well, just like for Zelensky. And when they contacted me [with the request to grant asylum], I thought it was unbecoming of me to take him to Belarus. I thought I should talk to Russians, to Putin. To my surprise Putin told me to take him if I could,” the head of state said.
He stressed that Vladimir Putin had taken this stance despite the fact that Mikheil Saakashvili had been essentially Russia’s enemy. “[Mikheil Saakashvili] criticized Putin in every possible manner. Yet he was calm about it: ‘Take him’. While Americans didn’t lift a finger,” Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked.
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