Fakes about Lukashenko's illness obscure issue of nuclear weapons deployment in Belarus -  Belarusian political analyst Usov

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

"The information about Lukashenko's health condition, that he is almost dying, has just appeared on the channel of Valery Tsepkalo, who has worked in Lukashenko's system for almost 30 years and tried to become a candidate for the presidency in Belarus in 2020. The information about Lukashenko's illness appeared to obscure the fact that Belarus had acquired nuclear weapons. No one discussed the signed agreement on the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, but only said whether Lukashenko was alive or dead," the political scientist commented.

Pavel Usov believes that this was a kind of a bogus story.

"Thus, possible reactions of dissatisfaction and tension were de-actualized and deactivated. Accordingly, the public was not discussing the problem of nuclear weapons and how this threatens Belarus, but rather the fact that Lukashenko was once again poisoned and is in the hospital. In Belarus, there is no information about Lukashenka's current health condition. By the way, he has already congratulated Erdogan on his victory in the Turkish presidential election, and he was one of the first to do so. Obviously, in his critical condition, he could hardly do that," said the head of the Center for Political Analysis and Forecasts.

Usov added that the head of Russia's central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, has come to Belarus and that the next step is probably the introduction of a single currency, the Russian ruble, which is the next stage of the occupation of Belarus.

• On May 25, the defence ministers of Russia and Belarus signed a document on the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Lukashenko announced that nuclear weapons had started moving to the country.

• On May 27, one of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, diplomat and political exile Valery Tsepkalo said that Lukashenko fell ill in Moscow and underwent a blood transfusion.