Prosecutor's office investigates car accident involving Belarus's ambassador

An investigation into a car accident involving Belarus's ambassador to Russia Ihar Petryshenka goes on.

It was said by spokesman for the Belarusian MFA Dzmitry Mironchyk at a briefing, BelaPAN reports.

The Belarusian side provides the necessary assistance, he said.

The accident took place near the village of Yakovlevo (Yartsevo district, Smolensk region, Russia) at 10:47 Moscow time on November 19. A car of the Belarusian ambassador collided with a VAZ car. Two VAZ passengers died: a woman born in 1939 died on the site, the other one born in 1937 died in a hospital in Yartsevo.

“First of all I'd like to join the condolences to the families of the crash victims offered yesterday by our ambassador,” the MFA spokesperson said.

Mironchyk says the ambassador's car was driven by a Belarusian citizen. He and ambassador Petryshenka don't have serious injuries and don't need hospitalisation. “The ambassador was in the back seat with a seatbelt,” the spokesman specified.

He says the accident happened when the ambassador was returning from Minsk to Moscow after a joint session of the Belarusian and Russia MFAs that was held on November 18. According to a preliminary version of Russian law-enforcement bodies, the blame lies on the VAZ driver, Mironchyk notes.

Asked by journalists to comment on the use of official vehicles for working trips instead of trains or planes, he answered that a decision on the means of transport is made taking into account all circumstances, including economic ones. Official cars are often more cost-effective for working trips than other means of transport, the MFA spokesman added.