Russian envoy: Time will tell if we need airbase in Belarus


On the occasion of Foreign Service Workers\ Day, Alexander Surikov, Ambassador of Russia to Belarus, has granted an interview to news agency Interfax in Minsk.

“I think now there is no sense in putting the issue of an airbase on the agenda; there is nothing particularly wrong in the world to be a threat to us. There is a number of tangible issues, I’m not a pilot and I will not punch above my weight and talk about speed, flight times and other details. Time will pass, and the project will have developed in one direction or another – we will see which of them will come true,” Surikov said.

In September, the Russian government presented Putin a draft project on the establishment of a military airbase in Belarus. The Russian president signed the document and empowered the government to prepare the corresponding agreement in Minsk.

However, in early October Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated that Minsk and Moscow had never had any talk of deploying a Russian airbase in the territory of Belarus.

“Our opposition has been wailing about the deployment of a Russian airbase in Belarus lately. I know nothing about such plans. I am the man in charge of making such decisions and I know nothing about such plans.We don’t need a base these days. We don’t need military air forces either. We need certain weapons. It is what I’ve been saying to Putin and earlier to Medvedev,” he said.

Read also: No gain without pain: Putin suspends loan after Lukashenka’s refusal to deploy Russian airbase in Belarus?

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