Lukashenka not to take part in presidential election?
Political commentator Alyaksandr Fyaduta gets strange requests to comment on information that Lukashenka will not run for presidency.
Belarusian political scientists received three letters with this information allegedly from Russian mass media yesterday evening. They asked them to comment on the same information received ‘from trustworthy sources’: Alyaksandr Lukashenka will not take part in the next presidential election and will promote the candidature of Minister of Foreign Affairs Uladzimir Makei.
“Alyaksandr Lukashenka will not take part in the next presidential election, trustworthy sources report. He is going to support the candidature of Uladzimir Makei. Could you comment on it as soon as possible?” some person claiming to be a LifeNews reporter wrote to Alyaksandr Fyaduta.
He also asked to explain ‘the Belarusian President’s decision and ‘its consequences for Russia and the Russian-Belarusian relations’. “Will Uladzimir Makei satisfy Moscow and will it change Belarus’ foreign policy?” the person asked.
Similar letters were sent by Meduza and gazeta.ru. Fyaduta does not believe that the messages were sent by these mass media. “They were not sent from the corporate mailboxes.”
Alyaksandr Fyaduta refused to reply and comment on the letters. Deputy leader of Tell the Truth Andrei Dzimtryyeu also received a fake letter from LifeNews. At the same time, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Alexander Surikov doubted that Lukashenka would run for President in 2015. “The Belarusian President has not expressed any desire to run for President so far. I doubt that he will. But I will personally support him if he does,” Surikov claimed at a press conference in Msink on December 17, 2014.
Interestingly, the mentioned mass media have not published any information about Lukashenka’s ‘refusal to run for President in 2015’.
