Armenian ambassador will not return to Minsk until Lukashenka apologizes
Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan, stated that consultations with the Armenian ambassador to Belarus in Yerevan will continue until Belarus provides an explanation or apologizes to Armenia for Aleksandr Lukashenka's statements about the war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian Embassy in Minsk. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Rubinyan raised this issue after Edgar Ghazaryan, a deputy from the opposition faction "Strong Armenia," asked Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Armen Ghazaryan how long the consultations with the Armenian ambassador to Belarus would continue.
The speaker of parliament stated that he was surprised by such a question from the opposition deputy. Rubinyan reminded that the Armenian ambassador to Belarus was recalled to Yerevan for consultations in 2024 after Lukashenka's public statements about the war.
"Do you know why the Armenian ambassador to Belarus was recalled for consultations? It happened after the President of Belarus publicly stated that he and Azerbaijan had planned the 44-day war. Belarus is a country that is part of the CSTO, meaning it is in the same defense alliance as us," Rubinyan said.
According to him, the recall of the ambassador was Armenia's reaction to Lukashenka's words.
"In response to this, the Armenian ambassador to Belarus was recalled for consultations. And yes, these consultations will continue until we hear an explanation or an apology," emphasized the speaker of the Armenian parliament.
On June 13, 2024, Armenia recalled its ambassador to Belarus, Razmik Khumaran, to Yerevan for consultations. On the same day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated in parliament that no official representative of Armenia would visit Belarus as long as Aleksandr Lukashenka remained its president.
Prior to this, on May 16, 2024, during a visit to Azerbaijan, Lukashenka met with Ilham Aliyev and recalled their conversation on the eve of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war. According to him, they then discussed the possibility of war and concluded that it could be won.