The Belarusian authorities will decide on the recognition of the Russian "referenda" in Ukraine "based on national interests," said Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei.
Recall that after the 2020 rallies against the falsification of the presidential elections by Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian authorities repeatedly received significant cash tranches from Russia. On September 14, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Sochi with Lukashenka, who lost the election. Before the meeting, which lasted four hours, the Kremlin announced the allocation of $1.5 billion to Belarus. Minsk received a third of this amount from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development.
In December 2020, it approved the provision of a $1 billion loan to Belarus to repay and service the Belarusian public debt. At the same time, the first tranche of $500 million was transferred to Minsk. On June 2, 2021, it was reported that Belarus received the second tranche of a loan in the amount of $500 million from Russia.
The territory of Belarus is also actively used by Russia as a military training ground. From the southern part of the country bordering Ukraine, Russia sent military equipment to Kyiv, which is based mainly in the Gomel region.