Lukashenka's Boeing would have reached Washington, but…
Aliaksandr Lukashenka's decision not to fly to Washington is not actually due to closed European airspace, writes Mikalai Buhai.
Alexander Lukashenko's plane. Screenshot from video
Lukashenko has a Boeing 767‑300ER with a flight radius of over 11,000 kilometers. Similar liners fly from Moscow to Cuba, to Havana, the distance there is 9,600 km, journalist Igor Kuley calculated. To Washington — even a little closer. The Earth is not flat, but round. Therefore, a route from Belarus to the USA via the Arctic is possible.
Therefore, Alexander Lukashenko's decision not to fly is not the result of sanctions, as Natalya Eismant elegantly explained, but simply a decision that satisfies everyone. Both the Americans, because they invited him, but he won't come; and Moscow, because he won't fly; and Europe, because he won't fly; and Lukashenko, because he was invited, and he's like: «The attempt is counted, but you haven't earned my presence yet.»
However, this decision cannot be called Solomonic. In my opinion, in this case, the vassal cannot afford to be where the master will not be. Some consider the recent ravings of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service a warning to Lukashenko himself. Russia considers Belarus not just part of its zone of influence, but its special territory, for special purposes, and Lukashenko himself as a person for special assignments. Lukashenko has to accept these rules of the game.