Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko Taken To Hospital After Meeting With Vladimir Putin

Moscow: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was taken to a hospital in Moscow after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Newsweek reported citing the Belarusian opposition leader. Claiming that Lukashenko was in critical condition at the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow, Belarus 2020 presidential candidate Valery Tsepkalo in a Saturday Telegram post said that the information his team obtained required further information and that it had not been confirmed, American weekly news magazine Newsweek reported.

"According to the information we have, which requires additional confirmation, Lukashenko after a meeting with Putin behind closed doors, was urgently taken to the Central Clinical Hospital of Moscow, where he is currently staying," Tsepkalo said in a Telegram post.

"The best specialists were sent to return him (Lukashenko) from a condition assessed by doctors as critical," he added.

Tsepkalo's message on Telegram further said, "The organized measures to rescue the Belarusian dictator were aimed at averting speculation about the possible involvement of the Kremlin in his poisoning." He said that doctors have warned of a possible recurrence of relapses, as per the news report.

According to the Newsweek, rumours around Lukashenko's health have been doing the rounds in the weeks after his appearance at the Victory Day celebration in Moscow's Red Square on May 9. However, Lukashenko, who has led Belarus since 1994, dismissed the rumours and said, "I'm not going to die guys."

Last week, Russia signed a deal with the Lukashenko government to formalise the deployment of tactical nuclear missiles in Belarus, the Russian news agency TASS reported.

The Defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed the documents defining the procedures for storing Russian nuclear weapons at a special facility on Belarusian territory, the Belarusian Defense Ministry reported.

"During the meeting, documents determining the procedure for keeping Russian non-strategic nuclear weapons in a special storage facility on the territory of the Republic of Belarus were signed," the ministry's press service said.

The measures taken by Russia and Belarus "comply with all existing international legal obligations," it stressed. The defence ministers discussed the current military and political situation and issues of military and technical cooperation between the two countries.