Head of Defence Intelligence reveals Ukrainian MP secretly negotiated with Lukashenko

Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, has revealed that Yevhenii Shevchenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, held secret negotiations with Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed President of Belarus, upon request of the Ukrainian special services.

Source: Budanov in an interview for Rizni Liudy (Different People) TV show

Details: Budanov stated that "nothing was launched" from the territory of Belarus for a long time – it is the "result of complex measures" of different Ukrainian forces.

Budanov believes that Putin has lost hope to drag Lukashenko into the war against Ukraine.

"Whether we like him or not, Lukashenko is not an idiot. And he does not want the repetition of 24 February 2022. In fact, his opinion was not really taken into account back then but he has made conclusions, as I see, as everyone sees," Budanov explained.

He stated that communication with Lukashenko was conducted via different channels.

Quote: "We involved all possible means of communication, all possibilities we had. Even involved a Member of the Parliament – this is also true. All this was done in order to prevent Belarus from being dragged into this war. And when the Russian army was driven out and fled, this communication was crucial for preventing new attempts of invasion from the territory of Belarus into Ukraine or launching attacks on Ukraine. Time has shown that as of now we managed to do it."

Details: Asked whether it would be right to reveal the last name of the MP, Budanov, after a brief pause, named Yevhenii Shevchenko.

The latter was eliminated from the Sluha Narodu parliamentary faction for sympathising with Lukashenko against the backdrop of Belarus helping the Kremlin to invade Ukraine. 

Quote: "Well, everyone understands that this is Yevhenii Shevchenko. We benefit from his communication, his connections. We never really kept it a secret.

He is efficient in this process. Let’s say Mr. Shevchenko has been helping us for a long time. And he never refused when we turned to him with some requests."

Background: 

• On 20 April 2022 Yevhenii Shevchenko flew to Minsk without a permit in order to meet Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus and even claimed that more than a third of Ukrainians would like to see Lukashenko as their President.
• When on 23 May 2021 the Ryanair plane was deceitfully landed in Belarus and opposition figure Roman Protasevych was arrested, Shevchenko praised Lukashenko on social media.
• On 24 May 2022, the Sluha Narodu faction decided to remove Shevchenko from their ranks.

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