'I'm Not Going to Die': Belarus Leader and Putin Ally Alexander Lukashenko Dismisses Reports He Was Poisoned in Moscow
Vladimir Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko insisted he is “not going to die” following reports the Belarus leader was poisoned while in Moscow earlier this month, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Lukashenko was first rumored to have been poisoned on May 9 shortly after the 68-year-old leader abruptly left Moscow following Russia’s Victory Day parade.
Pictures of Lukashenko leaving the parade showed the leader’s vehicle being followed by an ambulance as the motorcade rushed to the airport.
But while Lukashenko spoke out this week to insist he is “not going to die” and to deny the reports that he was poisoned earlier this month, the Belarus leader-turned-Putin ally did acknowledge he left Moscow “due to health reasons.”
"If someone thinks I'm about to die, calm down,” Lukashenko said on Tuesday, according to Daily Star. "It's nothing more than chatter on messengers and Telegram channels.”
"I didn't have the opportunity to get treated,” he continued. “I had to go to Moscow, then Leningrad, then [volunteer activities]. And then you dragged me to Grodno. All that piled up."
"I'm not going to die, guys,” Lukashenko finished. “You'll have to struggle with me for a very long time to come."
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Lukashenko was rumored to have been poisoned – and even dead – after he was rushed to the hospital on May 9.
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Insiders indicated at the time that Lukashenko returned to Belarus and was taken to a hospital in Minsk before being placed in a medically-induced coma, although those reports were later found to be false.
"The Belarus strongman is clearly seriously ill and some are asking if he is already dead,” journalist Ben Aris said on May 14. "[Lukashenko] is in the hospital, he is being prepared for an operation – and maybe the operation has already been performed.”
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"He's been gone for four days now. Sick, poisoned, simulating?” Belarus opposition leader Pavel Latushka added that weekend. "We are working on an implementation of a plan in case of Lukashenko’s death."
Lukashenko has served as Putin’s closest ally since the Russian president invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin announced in March that Lukashenko agreed to allow Russia to place ten nuclear aircraft carriers in Belarus, but the Belarus leader stopped short of committing his own troops to the frontlines of the ongoing Russian war effort in Ukraine.