Belarus protests: Putin ready to send Lukashenko military support
Kremlin said reinforcements would be dispatched only if standoff of authoritarian leader with demonstrators escalated
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has said the Kremlin is willing to provide military or other law enforcement assistance to authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, before adding that the situation does not yet require it.
In remarks that will alarm EU leaders, who have called on Lukashenko to negotiate with the broad opposition movement rather than try to crush it, Putin said he would send backup to Lukashenko if the standoff in Belarus escalated.