August 2, Pozirk. Belarus was “asked” to join a major prisoner exchange between the Western countries and Russia on August 1, Alaksandar Łukašenka has said today during his trip to the Homiel region.
“We got involved and helped as much as we could,” his press office reports, quoting him as saying. “Some people like the US president are trying to gain more authority on this, even though they had nothing to do with it. The special services conducted these negotiations, even diplomats were not involved. We agreed that we would do it quietly.”
Belarusian authorities deal with such situations “wisely, paying attention to national interests,” Łukašenka said.
Belarus “does not trade in people,” he added, referring to the case of Rico Krieger, a German national sentenced to death in Belarus and included in the swap.
Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja was not involved in the prisoner exchange talks, which took place without Minsk’s participation, her team said in a statement.
Western governments ignored Belarusian interests while negotiating prisoner swap with Russia, said the Rada of the Belarusian National Republic (BNR), representing the oldest Belarusian government in exile.
The United States and European leaders ignored the suffering of the Belarusian people, who found themselves in their current position not least because the West was willing to see Belarus as Moscow’s “exclusive zone of interests,” it stressed.
