Russia is not welcome in Munich this year. For this, Putin receives the ruler of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, near Moscow.
02/17/2023 | Update: 02/17/2023 – 18:52 | by Mareike Müller
Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko in Novo-Ogaryovo near Moscow © IMAGO/SNA
Riga While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was connected via video to the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko at Novo-Ogaryovo, a residence outside Moscow.
According to Kremlin information, the two spoke on “key issues of promoting Russian-Belarusian relations” and integration into the Russo-Belarusian Union. This was founded in 1997 and serves cooperation in the areas of economy and defense.
At the beginning of the meeting, Putin specifically suggested talking about security issues, military cooperation and strengthening economic relations. Almost a year ago, Russia sent troops to Ukraine via Belarus.
As Russia has continued to station troops in Belarus, there are concerns in Ukraine about a possible new Russian offensive on the border with Belarus.
Putin said that Belarus has Soviet-era industrial facilities, which opens up good opportunities for joint production programs. Lukashenko said factories in Belarus produce parts for Russian passenger planes. With Russia’s help, a Belarusian factory could start making “good performing” ground-attack fighters in Ukraine, he said.
Lukashenko: “War would be completely different”
Lukashenko had already said on Thursday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, that Belarus would only go to war against Ukraine if his country was attacked. “I am ready to fight together with Russians from Belarusian territory only in one case: if a soldier enters Belarusian territory to kill my people,” Lukashenko told reporters, according to state news agency Belta.
If there was aggression against its country, Belarus would react with all severity. “War would be completely different.” Before invading Ukraine nearly a year ago, Russia had massed troops in Belarus and launched the failed Kiev offensive from there. According to Belta, Lukashenko says that the Moscow government never asked Belarus to join the war.
Lukashenko’s role was also the subject of the Munich Security Conference, to which Russia was not invited this year. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday at the conference, which he was linked to, that he thought it unlikely that Belarus would join Russia in the war against his country.
That would be “a huge historic mistake,” Zelensky said. He has data that a clear majority of the Belarusian population does not want to fight Ukraine.
Military maneuvers of the Russian and Belarusian armies © imago images/SNA
Meanwhile, concerns about possible mobilization appear to be growing in Belarus. According to US-funded broadcaster RFE/RL, Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushka said that Belarusian authorities could soon start moving to provide military support to Russia in its war against Ukraine. Latuschka currently lives in Poland.
Putin and Lukashenko last met in St. Petersburg in late December; they’ve met a total of 13 times in the past year. Lukashenko is considered one of the last real allies of the Kremlin ruler at the international level.