Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said Ukraine is trying to expand the geography of the fighting by drawing Belarus into the conflict, in an interview with TASS.
Galuzin said Moscow is factoring in such risks. He said that in June, some representatives of the Ukrainian side made unfounded threats against what he called brotherly Belarus.
European Commission response criticized
Galuzin also said such aggressive statements were backed at the European Commission level by its spokesperson, Anitta Hipper. He said Moscow views these plans by Kyiv and its European backers as further evidence that the Ukrainian leadership, which he called a junta, has no interest in establishing peace in the region, and instead wants to widen the fighting by dragging in Ukraine's closest neighbors.
Case sought against Lukashenko
It was reported earlier that the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked the country's prosecutor's office to open a case against Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Representatives of the Belarusian opposition had already made similar requests, according to the report.
