Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko explains how Russia, West negotiated prisoner swap

MOZYR DISTRICT, 2 August (BelTA) – As he met with residents of the agrotown of Prudok, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko explained how negotiations on the prisoner swap between Russia and the West had proceeded, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “You saw that the guys have been extracted. We were asked to assist and did the best we could. People with life sentences in the West were freed. Truth be told, people like the U.S. president inflate their authority with this event although he had nothing to do with it. Security agencies conducted these talks. Even the diplomats were not involved. We agreed that we would proceed quietly – shouts all over the world began. These things are done quietly. After all, people’s lives are at stake.”

The German citizen Rico Krieger, who has been pardoned by the Belarus president, had been found guilty on charges specified by six articles of the Criminal Code and had been sentenced to capital punishment for committing a terrorist attack. “What would have happened if people had died, god forbid? It is good that they didn’t,” the head of state noted. “We don’t buy and sell people. We gave away the German in order to help people take away these poor souls. What is bad about it? And this German is alive and this guy was saved.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated that in such situations the authorities would act wisely in a way that benefits the country and the people. “This is why I ask only one thing from you: you have to take care of your own work, you have to do everything,” he concluded.

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