Putin Welcomes Lukashenko to His Private Valdai Retreat Just After Kyiv Claimed the Border Relay Stations Helping Direct Russian Strikes on Ukraine Had Stopped Working
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko at his Valdai residence on June 26, shortly after Ukraine announced that relay stations along the Belarus-Ukraine border used to help direct Russian strikes had ceased operating.
Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko met on June 26 at the Russian president's residence at Valdai. The Kremlin said the two discussed “the agenda of the Union State, trade and economic cooperation, joint economic projects, and regional security issues.” Pul Pervogo, a Telegram channel close to Lukashenko’s press service, published a nearly identical statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no media statements were planned after the meeting.
Agentstvo, an independent Russian investigative outlet, noted that Putin rarely receives foreign leaders at his Valdai residence. The meeting came just after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded on June 19 that Lukashenko remove relay stations along the Belarus-Ukraine border, which he said were being used to help direct Russian strikes. He threatened that if the stations were not removed within a week, Ukraine would remove them itself. On June 24, Zelensky said the relay stations on the border had stopped working.
The following day, Lukashenko said he had recently met with Zelensky’s representatives in Minsk. “I told them directly,” Lukashenko said. “Guys, tell your president: if he thinks he can talk to us like that and, on top of it, drag us into the war, he needs to understand that the nature of the war will change in an instant — it will be an entirely different war.’ By the way, we received an answer: the president and his people understand this. So let’s come to terms, guys.” At a June 25 meeting with Russia’s ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, Lukashenko said Belarus does not want to join the war in Ukraine.
