Belarusian dictator Lukashenko to visit Russia after meeting with Putin in Minsk a few days ago
The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko is going to visit Russia. His trip includes a visit to the Star City (Zvyozdny Gorodok), where Lukashenko, at Putin’s invitation , "will visit the Gagarin Research test center for cosmonaut training."
"Currently, Belarusian candidates for space flight are being selected there. The President will familiarize himself with the work of the center, the system of selection and training of cosmonauts. He will also discuss the prospects of the Belarusian-Russian cooperation in the space sector," Lukashenko's press service said in a statement.
Lukashenko will also take part in an informal meeting of the heads of the CIS member states, which will be held on December 26-27 in St. Petersburg. The leaders of the countries will review the 2022 results and discuss plans for further cooperation in the most relevant areas for the Commonwealth.
Lukashenko and Putin last met on Monday, December 19, as part of the official, but "unexpected" visit of the Russian president to Belarus. After the meeting, they gave a joint press conference, during which Lukashenko tried to joke, commenting on Russian-Belarusian cooperation.
"The two of us are co-aggressors, the most harmful and toxic people on this planet. We have only one dispute: who is the bigger one. Vladimir Vladimirovich says that it’s me. But I have already begun to think that it is him. Well, we have decided that it’s both of us together, equally," Lukashenko quipped, adding that no one will be able to break the close ties between Russia and Belarus.
Then many analysts suggested that Putin went to Minsk to persuade Lukashenko to fully enter the war with Ukraine. At the same time, Russian media wrote that there were no agreements on this matter.
But the very next day, on December 20, the Belarusian monitoring group Belarusian Hajun reported on its Telegram channel that Russia was transferring equipment and weapons to the south of Belarus. They had been earlier brought to the training grounds in Belarus together with the newly mobilized Russian soldiers.
According to Belarusian Hajun, tanks, trucks, and personnel of the Russian Armed Forces were moved by train from the Belarusian training grounds in the northern and central parts of the country to the south - closer to the border with Ukraine.