The celebration of the Day of the Flag, Emblem and Anthem of the Republic of Belarus took place without the participation of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Congratulations on his behalf were read by the Prime Minister of the Republic Roman Golovchenko on the SB TV broadcast.
At the same time, the publication Nasha Niva claims that on the eve of the holiday, the presidential cortege spent about two hours near a private hospital near Minsk.
“There is nothing supernatural there, not covid. The man just got sick. Despite the person’s illness, he considered it his duty to come to Moscow, and then organized events in Minsk in the evening of the same day. He probably needs some rest – that’s all, ”Constantin Zatulin, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, told the Rise Telegram channel.
Lukashenka has been missing public events for the fifth day in a row. The politician was last seen in Moscow at a military parade and laying of wreaths – on Victory Day, May 9. Of all the presidents who came to Moscow for the parade, he was the only one who did not walk from the podium to the monument to the Unknown Soldier, but drove 300 meters in his security electric car, smiling.
At the informal breakfast in the Kremlin of the leaders of the CIS countries after the laying of flowers, Lukashenka was no longer there – the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov explained this by going to the festive ceremonies in Belarus.
A few hours later, on May 9, Lukashenka laid a wreath at the monument on Victory Square in Minsk. But instead the solemn speech was read by the Minister of Defense of Belarus, Viktor Khrenin, and Lukashenka himself stood nearby.
According to a source for the Belarusian publication Nasha Niva, Lukashenka fell ill with the flu. An interlocutor close to the “Lukashenka protocol” told reporters that the politician had surrounded him and that “the version about the virus has spread.” “A few more [близких к Лукашенко] The man fell ill and fell off his feet.
The interlocutor of the publication emphasized that “bacterial complications can occur” without proper treatment if the flu is.
The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported that since May 9, the Belarusian leader has sent his direct representatives to all important events.
Officially, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus did not comment on the condition of Alexander Lukashenko. According to unofficial reports from the press service of the President of the Republic of Belarus, he “works with documents”. “They have a job like that, they have to talk like that. He might really be working with documents,” Zatulin told Rise.
Online publication Zerkalo.io points out that reports of Lukashenka’s state of health are extremely rare – in the past 10 years, Minsk has spoken about it only four times.
“To say that Lukashenka has a cold, is sick, needs treatment is to show her weakness. And it is a destabilizing factor in such systems. Because the entire system of power is based on Lukashenka. And if he does not resist, then a power struggle may begin, this system will begin to falter. And in the highest echelons of power, everyone is well aware of this, so they prefer to hide, and they will hide as much as possible, ”said political analyst Alexander Fridman.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Lukashenka opposed the introduction of quarantine and recalled that doctors recommended breathing more fresh air during SARS.
“We kill people in these apartments. Instead of closing the border and driving people home, a lot of issues open up that need to be worked on. We were always taught, you remember: SARS, flu, etc.
According to Lukashenka, people sitting in a confined space find themselves in a “virus atmosphere”. He also stressed that he did not understand the supporters of “isolation, secrecy, overlap”.
Lukashenka also recommended washing hands more often, observing the daily regimen, going to the bathhouse and drinking vodka for prevention to prevent ARVI.
“I’m a non-drinker but lately I’m jokingly just don’t wash your hands with vodka, probably 40-50 grams a day in terms of pure alcohol is to poison this virus. But not at work,” said Lukashenka.