MINSK. Aug 3 (Interfax) - Russia is trying to conceal the attempt to dispatch 200 fighters from a private military company to Belarus, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.
"Well done, you found out that this is the first group. As far as I understand, this is just the first group of 180 or 200 people, which had been planned for redeployment to Belarus. And when I say it (I have the read the report), these are accurate data today. And Russia's attempt to hide the 'tail' now and claim that the arrival of this group was agreed on with us - this is total nonsense," Lukashenko was quoted by the BelTA state news agency as saying on Saturday after hearing a report of State Security Committee chairman Valery Vakulchik and Investigative Committee chairman Ivan Noskevich on the situation around the detained Russians from a private military company.
At the same time, the president requested that the men in custody be treated correctly. "They are, of course, guilty, but not so much as to be subjected to some harsh measures. These are soldiers. They were given the order, they went. We need to find out who gave the order, who sent them over here," Lukashenko said.
Whatever measures Belarus is taking in regard to Russian servicemen, be they former or active, the relevant authorities of the two countries always work together, he said.
"Here, only the president can give permission for servicemen to arrive, visit Belarus. With or without equipment, aircraft, helicopters, and so on. No one gave any permission. Moreover, today we have serious suspicions about the purposes the group had in mind," Lukashenko said.
"Many facts (you reported to me in writing) are interesting. I can also see that our elder brothers have gone silent. No longer crying that they had sent these guys to Istanbul. There was never and could not have been any Istanbul, as it turned out. It is clear that this group had other purposes. And the task of the inquiry is to find out what those purposes were," he added.
The president stressed that Belarus is open to cooperation on this situation. "We won't build politics on lies. We won't solve the issue by shouting over one another in the media. So, should someone in Russia wish to get more information, we are always open. We are not hiding anything, but we do need the truth," Lukashenko said.