Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi for talks today. Their meeting comes amidst a flap by the EU, Britain and the United States over the arrest by Belarus police of intelligence operative Raman Pratasevic, taken off a Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius, forced to land May 23 in Minsk. Putin provided Lukashenko with a friendly greeting, and alluded to the lack of protest in the West when Bolivian President Evo Morales’ Presidential plane was forced to land in Vienna in 2013, in a frantic attempt to seize Edward Snowden (who was not aboard): “The plane of the Bolivian President was forced to land once. The President was led out of the plane and nothing, silence.” In contrast, this is “an outburst of emotion.”
Lukashenko brought some confidential documents on the Ryanair incident which he thought would be helpful. Putin said of their pre-arranged summit: “But we have topics to discuss without these developments.” According to the Kremlin transcript, they then went on to speak about trade relations which Putin said are developing despite the coronavirus pandemic. (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/65699)