Lukashenko Caught Red-Handed :: Charter'97 :: News

On Tuesday more evidence have been found against Lukashenko, whom western special services have long called implicated in illicit arms deals with Iraq. Having opened up the containers, en route from Belarus to Iraq via Beirut, the Lebanese policemen found in them military liaison devices and helmets for the tank crew.

The main proof of the Belarusian trace is the documentation, which accompanied the intercepted cargo. Belarus was mentioned there as the sender, while Iraq as an addressee of the stuff. Lebanese authorities don’t publicize concrete names and organizations, who stand behind that, though this could add extra impetus for more investigation into the case. Due to the UN imposed arms embargo on Iraq, the senders must have acted through some phony mediators. Reuters reports that the law-enforcers unearthed in the corresponding documents the names of two Lebanese citizens and even arrested both of them.

One can’t rule out that the row, which can be provoked by this unexpected discovery, will make Alexander Lukashenko yield to the detailed investigation into his relations with Iraq by foreign specialists.

It is the very first time that they finally caught Lukashenko red-handed in his military ties with Baghdad, though the man has been long suspected of it. When in 1998 the UN inspectors discovered on one of the Iraqi artillery units a mark “Made in Belarus. Vitebsk machine-building plant”, their suspicions rose.

There exist data that Belarus isn’t limited by mere machine-making equipment and assists Iraq in modernizing missiles and aviation.