As the world repudiates him, Vladimir Putin received Lukashenko on a yacht after a plane was hijacked to arrest journalist

As if Friday’s meeting amid the scandal over the hijacking of a European commercial plane to arrest a journalist on May 23 was not a sufficient gesture, Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again expressed his full support for his counterpart. Belarusian, Alexander. Lukashenko, after having received him for an intimate meeting on a yacht by the Black Sea.

Lukashenko, who has his main ally in Moscow, was greeted by Putin in Sochi, a coastal city, in hectic hours for diplomacy after the announcement of sanctions against Minsk by the main Western countries.

“Yesterday was the official day of the dialogues, and today is the informal part”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that the two leaders “took advantage of the good weather” and they went “for a boat trip”.

The Telegram channel “Pool Pervogo”, which acts as an unofficial report of the Belarusian presidency, published a photo showing the two leaders talking, casually dressed, apparently aboard a ship.

According to Peskov, Putin and Lukashenko mainly spoke of “economic cooperation” and “fight against the pandemic” of covid-19, but also of the Ryanair airliner hijacked by Minsk last weekend, and of the arrest by Belarusian journalist. Power critic Roman Protasevich and his Russian girlfriend Sofia Sapega, who were on board.

The plane was intercepted while flying over Belarusian territory and the maneuver caused great unrest in Europe and the United States, which adopted sanctions against the Lukashenko regime, notably calling on European airlines to avoid flying over Belarus.

“Lukashenko provided his counterpart with detailed information about what happened on the Ryanair plane,” Peskov added, adding that Moscow was not “indifferent to the fate” of Sapega, a Russian national.

Both agreed to work on “organizing the air link” between their countries, taking into account the restrictions imposed by the European Union.

Protests in Poland against Lukashenko

Around the time that Putin and Lukashenko were sailing the shores of the Black Sea, hundreds of people were demonstrating against the Belarusian president in Poland.

It is a demonstration in Warsaw in which the parents of the Belarusian opposition journalist in exile, Roman Protasevich, participated.

Natalia Protasevich, the journalist’s mother, called on “all EU countries and the United States” to help “free Roman and his partner Sofia, as well as the other prisoners”.

“We want to live in a free country, in a country where everyone has the right to express their own convictions,” added Father Dimitri.

Protesters chanted “Long live Belarus” and posted posters with messages such as “Freedom for Belarus” or “North Korea in the Heart of Europe”.

With agency information.