Ukraine-Russian Crisis

Ukraine War Hasn’t Gone As Planned – Putin’s Ally

Published

3 years ago

May 6, 2022.

Yinka Akanbi

Belarus shares a border with Ukraine and Russia sent troops from there when it launched its invasion
Russia’s Vladimir Putin helped Lukashenko cling to power in 2020 after his widely disputed presidential re-election sparked mass protests

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EKO HOT BLOG reports that a key ally of Russia, authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, has defended the war in Ukraine while indicating it has not gone to plan.

He told the AP news agency that the operation had “dragged on”.

Belarus shares a border with Ukraine and Russia sent troops from there when it launched its invasion.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin helped Lukashenko cling to power in 2020 after his widely disputed presidential re-election sparked mass protests.

In turn, Belarus’s long-time leader has given his backing to Russia’s invasion and critics have said he is little more than a vassal and accomplice to Putin.

In his interview with AP, Lukashenko said that Russia’s leader had no choice but to act because Ukraine was “provoking Russia”.

But he added: “I am not immersed in this problem enough to say whether it goes according to plan, like the Russians say, or like I feel it.

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“I want to stress one more time: I feel like this operation has dragged on.”

Lukashenko said he wanted the war to end, saying Belarus had “done and are doing everything” to stop it.

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