Vintsuk Viachorka: Lukashenka wouldn't have gone to Kyiv without Putin's permission

The dictator had several reasons to visit Kyiv.

Politician Vintsuk Viachorka said it in an interview with Radio Svaboda.

“The reason is trade, and he involuntary mentioned it in his usual negative manner: 'It is not a game for us. Not only due to trade considerations but because we are neighbors, we live nearby, we are not strangers.' The matter is Ukraine's regular payments for supplies from Belarus,” he said.

According to Vintsuk Viachorka, Aliaksandr Lukashenka finds it important to keep his image as a “peacemaker”.

“That is the reason why he tries hard to deny it in public. Nazarbayev recently said he would like to be a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Nazarbayev can be a more successful mediator at least because he has less dependence on Moscow than Lukashenka has. He has never said that the Kazakhs and the Russian are one nation. Moscow wants to keep Lukashenka in this role, because he is under Russia's control.”

The dictator wouldn't have visited Kyiv if Putin hadn't given his permission and if he hadn't promised to talk Poroshenko into a “compromise”, Vintsuk Viachorka thinks.