Vladimir Putin was flanked by an aide with an armoured ‘nuclear suitcase’ as he landed in Belarus for crunch talks with the country’s president regarding the war in Ukraine.
The Russian president often travels with an armoured suitcase said to contain the nuclear ‘button’, which he uses both as a means to intimidate politicians and as an impromptu shield to protect him from assassins.
The briefcase- named ‘Cheget’- is equipped with folding sheets of armour and is wielded by a series of bodyguards who never leave Putin’s side.
Although never far from the Russian leader, Cheget’s last public appearance was in April, when it was spotted at the funeral of ultranationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, which was attended by Putin.
The man responsible for carrying it that day, retired FSB colonel Vadim Zimin, was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home in Moscow in June this year after he ‘attempted suicide’ following a criminal investigation into corruption charges.
Putin’s trip to Minsk for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is his first official visit since 2019 – before the COVID pandemic and a wave of pro-democracy protests in 2020 that Lukashenko crushed with strong support from the Kremlin.
The Russian President has been taking a more public role in the war recently as he seeks to offset his country’s devastating losses in Ukraine, and his meeting with Lukashenko has stoked fears that Moscow is pushing its closest ally to join a new ground offensive in the new year.
Russian forces used Belarus as a launch pad for their abortive attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in February, and there has been joint activity taking place between the two nations militaries there for months.
Speaking to Russian media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed Belarus was Russia’s ‘number one ally’ but insisted any talk of Moscow pressuring Minsk into its ‘special military operation’ were ‘stupid and unfounded fabrications’.
Lukashenko meanwhile stressed the importance of his country’s ‘sovereignty and independence’ to state media.
‘I would like to emphasise this feature once again: no one, except us, governs Belarus,’ he said in a statement. ‘We must always proceed from the fact that we are a sovereign state and independent.’
Although Belarus’ small army is not thought to be enough to make any serious impact on the war in Ukraine, it is thought their deployment would force Kyiv to commit forces to the north which could leave it more exposed to Russian assaults elsewhere.
At a government meeting after the talks with Putin were announced, Lukashenko unexpectedly said that any ceding of sovereignty would be a betrayal of the Belarusian people.
‘Particularly after these large-scale negotiations, everyone will say: “That’s it, there are no longer any authorities in Belarus, the Russians are already walking around and running the country”,’ Lukashenko said.
‘I want to again underline this in particular: No one other than us runs Belarus.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/ZLYupHl
0 Comments