Russian President Vladimir Putin came to Belarus. After becoming president again, Putin made his second trip abroad to his closest ally, Belarus, and met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the capital Minsk. The two leaders held a joint press conference after the meeting. Stating that they discussed many issues regarding bilateral relations during the meeting, Putin said, “Today’s talks were very productive. “With the participation of our deputy prime ministers and ministers, we discussed many issues in the fields of defence, security, economic, cultural and humanitarian matters,” he said.
“WE MOVED IT TO TURKEY UPON THE REQUEST OF THE UKRAINE SIDE”
Referring to Russia not being invited to the conference on Ukraine planned to be held in Switzerland next June, Putin attributed the failure of the first negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul to the western countries. Putin: “I have said this many times. Russia has never rejected negotiations. “Moreover, we started these negotiations in Belarus, and then moved them to Turkey, to Istanbul, at the request of the Ukrainian side,” he said. Stating that an agreement was reached within the framework of the negotiations and a draft was prepared, Putin said, “The head of the Ukrainian negotiating team signed some articles. In principle, both the Ukrainian and Russian sides were generally satisfied with the agreement. There were some points that needed to be concluded, but in general, I repeat. “If the Ukrainian side signed this document, it means that the Ukrainian side is satisfied with it,” he said.
“WE ARE AWARE THAT ITS LEGITIMACY HAS ENDED”
Putin criticized Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy, who continues to remain in his seat due to martial law and mobilization due to the war, despite his official term ending on May 20, for this situation. Arguing that it is unclear who will be at the negotiation table due to Zelenskiy’s situation, Putin said, “This is not an idle question. Who will be negotiated with? We are aware that the legitimacy of the current President Zelenskiy is over. “I think one of the aims of the conference announced to be held in Switzerland is to confirm the legitimacy of the incumbent head of state or the already inactive head of state to the Western society, which are the sponsors of the Kiev regime,” he said.
Stating that there is no official response to the steps taken, Putin said: “We need to know who we need and who we can agree with in order to sign legally binding documents. Then we must be completely sure that we are dealing with legitimate authorities. “I think this question should be answered primarily from the perspective of the parliament, the Constitutional Court or some other government bodies in Ukraine,” he said.
“IF IT WAS PROPERLY MAINTENANCED, SUCH A PROBLEM WOULD NOT HAVE EXPERIENCED”
Belarusian President Lukashenko touched upon the helicopter crash of Iranian President Ibrahim Reisi.
Pointing out that Iran could not continue its technological development due to the embargoes of the USA and the West, Lukashenko stated that the helicopters may not have been maintained due to these sanctions.
“They had no right to impose sanctions on cruise ships, planes, helicopters and other means of transportation,” Lukashenko said. Is this normal? You sold this helicopter. It doesn’t matter if it has been used for 40-50 years. It may have only flown 3 times in 50 years. “Perhaps if it had been maintained properly, such a problem would not have occurred,” he said.
Vladimir Putin, who spoke after Lukashenko, pointed out that there were Russian helicopters in the helicopter convoy carrying Reisi and said, “Since the other 2 helicopters in the delegation were Russian helicopters, there were no problems even though they were on the same route and conditions.” (UAV)
