The Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine on Wednesday of provoking trouble in neighboring Belarus and stated Moscow saw no point in engaging with a opposition council from Belarus that has emerged amid countrywide protests.
Lavrov, while speaking in Moscow following the talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, said 200 trained extremists of Ukraine were inside Belarus trying to destabilize it.
Russian Foreign Minister Blames Belarus
The protest erupted after an August 9 presidential election marred by allegations of election rigging. Russia is a close ally of Belarus. Kyiv said the allegations were fictitious. "Ukraine has not conducted, is not conducting, and will not conduct any subversive activities against Belarus," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Facebook.
Kuleba said last week that Kyiv had frozen official contacts with Belarus, and joined the European Union in condemning the election as neither free nor fair. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for a new election.
(With agency inputs)
