Ex-Officials Report On Lukashenka's Health Problems

• 14.01.2025, 8:32

The dictator has started not to attend the planned events.

What do they tell officials if Lukashenka suddenly cannot attend meetings and other events? Former Belarusian diplomat Pavel Matsukevich recalls that in such a case the absence of the dictator might not be explained in any way, writes ‘Zerkalo’.

‘If the disease prevents to participate in the planned events, they are either cancelled or someone else goes instead of Lukashenka,’ says Matsukevich. ‘There may be explanations for the absence, but it also may not be disclosed. It all depends on the specific situation and the event’.

According to Matsukevich, officials rarely talk among themselves about the absence of the dictator at meetings and sessions. This happens because of the lack of any information about the state of Lukashenka's health.

‘It hardly becomes a topic for discussion,’ said the ex-diplomat. ‘I think that if something really exceptional happens, this secret can't remain a secret for the apparatus’.

Employees of the state-run media do not receive explanations about the reasons for Lukashenka's absence at public events either. Vialetta (her name has been changed for her safety), a former journalist of one of such media, told ‘Zerkalo’ about it.

‘The topic of Lukashenka's health has always been only discussed behind the scenes,’ she says. ‘Officially, Natallia Eismant (Lukashenka's press secretary - editor's note) never announced it. However, we still understood: if any of the planned events was cancelled, and not just one, but several, it meant that Lukashenka was ill’.