- Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was taken to a hospital in Moscow after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
- According to a media report, Lukashenko was in critical condition at the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow.
- According to the media, rumors about his health have been doing the rounds in the weeks after his appearance at the Victory Day celebration in Moscow’s Red Square on 9 May.
- Solid rumors claiming something bad has happened to him have surfaced after the long-serving leader, who has not made any public appearances since 8 May.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was taken to a hospital in Moscow after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to a report citing the Belarusian opposition leader. According to a media report, Lukashenko was in critical condition at the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow.
The report, citing Belarus 2020 presidential candidate Valery Tsepkalo’s Telegram post, said that the information was obtained by Tsepkalo’s team and had not been confirmed as further details were awaited. “According to the information we have, which requires additional confirmation, Lukashenko after a meeting with Putin behind closed doors, was urgently taken to the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow, where he is currently staying,” a media report quoted Tsepkalo as saying in a Telegram post.
Tsepkalo’s message on Telegram further said, “The organized measures to rescue the Belarusian dictator were aimed at averting speculation about the possible involvement of the Kremlin in his poisoning.” He said that doctors have warned of a possible recurrence of relapses, as per the news report.
According to the media, rumors about Lukashenko’s health have been doing the rounds in the weeks after his appearance at the Victory Day celebration in Moscow’s Red Square on 9 May. However, Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994, dismissed the rumors and said, “I’m not going to die guys.”
Lukashenko has not been seen after he did not deliver a speech at an event in Minsk commemorating the Victory Day anniversary, marking the first time in his lengthy presidency that he was absent from such an occasion. Solid rumors claiming something bad has happened to Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko have surfaced after the long-serving leader, who has not made any public appearances since 8 May, was found absent from a major annual ceremony in the capital city of Minsk on Sunday.
Last week, Russia signed a deal with the Lukashenko government to formalize the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus, the Russian news agency TASS reported. The Defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed the documents defining the procedures for storing Russian nuclear weapons at a special facility on Belarusian territory, the Belarusian Defence Ministry reported.
The measures taken by Russia and Belarus “comply with all existing international legal obligations,” it stressed. The defence ministers discussed the current military and political situation and issues of military and technical cooperation between the two countries.
With inputs from agencies
