Putin's hand appears to shake before he meets with Lukashenko

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Pavel Latushka, former culture minister, said that Lukashenko was “a murderer and a war criminal” for his role in the invasion of Ukraine. Mr Latushka claimed that the Belarusian President had allowed for Russians to use Belarus as a launching pad from which to advance on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, as well as fire missiles into the conflict zone. 

Responding to questions posed by Andrew Marr over whether the West could trust Mr Lukashenko’s suggestions he would not launch an offensive, Mr Latushka was dismissive. 

He said: “He is lying. He is lying because Lukashenko is a co-aggressor in the war against Ukraine. 

“He proposed the territory of Belarus, all military infrastructure, airfields, support, railways, also highways, to support the Russian invasion against Ukraine. 

“And he’s lying when he says he was for peace and that he is still for peace.

“He’s not a mediator, as he says, he is a part of that war. If you, in accordance with international law, proposed territory for the invasion, it means that you are a co-aggressor. 

“So, Lukahsenko said before the war that together with Russia, they would occupy Ukraine in three or four days.” 

Mr Latushka then claimed that 631 missiles “flew from the territory of Belarus to Ukraine”. 

Echoing comments made against Putin, he added: “Lukashenko is a murderer and a war criminal.” 

Ukrainian politicians claimed at the end of February, just three days into the conflict, that missiles had been fired into the country from Belarus. 

Anton Herashchenko, the adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on February 27 that a missile from Belarus had hit an airport in Zhytomyr in northern Ukraine.

He also said Iskander missiles were launched at Ukraine from Belarus at around 5 pm local time. 

The missiles were reportedly fired while Russia and Ukraine were in the early stages of de-escalation talks. 

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Lukashenko has had to balance his need for Putin’s backing to remain in power with attempts to retain some semblance of respectability with the West. 

Putin provides the political and financial backing to keep Lukashenko in power, and recent elections have been widely claimed to be fixed. 

But recent polls suggest that Belarussians largely disagree with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with two-thirds of the country opposed to the use of Belarusian infrastructure for Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. 

A mere 11 percent of residents reportedly support Belarusian troops entering Ukraine, with 50.4 percent disapproving of Russian action in Ukraine entirely. 

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