On the sidelines of February 2015 Minsk peace talks seeking to establish a ceasefire in Ukraine’s Donbas region, a live microphone picked up a conversation between Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka and the then Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko.
The two were discussing Vladimir Putin. “He’s playing a dishonest and dirty game,” Poroshenko said of the Kremlin leader, who was waging war in the Donbas and simultaneously posing as a peacemaker, effectively gaslighting everybody involved.
Lukashenka nodded sympathetically, replying, “I know, I know. Everybody realizes this.”
Fast forward six-and-a-half years to the present and Lukashenka has joined Putin in the “dirty dishonest game” and the gaslighting.
In a televised meeting with military officials in the Presidential Palace in Minsk on September 27, Lukashenka alleged, without evidence, that Ukraine was establishing training facilities for Belarusian exiles to overthrow his regime. He then claimed, also without evidence, that NATO was establishing bases in Ukraine.
“You see, they are dragging NATO troops there, to Ukraine. Under the guise of training centers, they are actually creating bases. The United States is creating bases in Ukraine. It is clear that we need to react to this,” Lukashenka said.