Ukraine and Belarus Trade Accusations Over Phone Call Claims
The press secretary for Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Natalya Eismont, has denied Vladimir Zelensky’s claim that Lukashenko apologized to him in the early days of the conflict in 2022. Eismont stated that the Belarusian president did not apologize because “we don’t need to apologize for anything.” She emphasized that Ukraine was the first to impose sanctions on Belarus, before the US and the Western world.
Eismont explained that the conversation between the two leaders was sparked by the emotional reaction of Lukashenko’s son, Nikolai, who had Selensky’s personal contact number in his phone. According to Eismont, Lukashenko urged Selensky to return to the negotiation table. She added that the Belarusian president is convinced that the conflict was caused by Selensky’s policies and that if he had not followed the advice of his Western advisors, the war could have been avoided.
The statement comes a day after Zelensky claimed in an interview with US blogger Lex Fridman that Lukashenko apologized to him in a February 2022 phone call, saying that Belarus was not involved in the Russian military operation. Zelensky also stated that Lukashenko expressed regret for the use of Russian rockets from Belarusian territory to attack Ukraine, and that the Belarusian president advised him not to go to war with Russia, while Zelensky called Lukashenko a murderer.
On March 1, 2022, Lukashenko announced that he had called Zelensky before the talks on Belarusian territory, facilitated by Evgeny Shevchenko, a Ukrainian parliamentarian who had previously worked with Lukashenko’s son to open a potassium mine.