“Three or four days ago, the president fell ill”
After Alexander Lukashenko fell ill at the Victory Parade in Moscow, the citizens of Belarus tensed up. Some ran to the church to pray for the president's health. Others froze in anticipation of disturbing news. Information appeared on local telegram channels that the activities of the security forces allegedly increased sharply in the country. Posts have been set up on the roads, control has been tightened at border points, and vehicle checks have begun in large cities. We talked with the locals about the situation in Belarus.
After it became known that Alexander Lukashenko allegedly could not walk from Red Square to Alexander Garden himself — he had to be transported by electric car, and also did not stay for a gala dinner of the leaders of the CIS countries with the President of Russia — unrest began in Belarusian chats.
“God grant him good health and longevity, we still need him very much.”
“It’s time for Lukashenka to retire.”
“We don’t believe our dad is still wow. He's just tired, not sick.»
“He really felt bad. I don’t understand why hide it.”
“Well, I didn’t go on foot to the Eternal Flame, I decided to overtake everyone, what’s wrong with that.”
“A bandage was noticed on his arm, such after the catheter is put on.”
“Father has a holiday in his country. Checked in and went home.”
Hundreds of social media users wondered what happened to Lukashenka. After all, there was no official answer. On the evening of May 9, during the broadcast of solemn events in Minsk, Alexander Grigorievich walked along Victory Square, accompanied by his sons, laid a wreath, and waved to the audience. That's just a speech at the Victory Monument instead of him read the Minister of Defense Khrenin. Lukashenka silently stood aside.
“For many years, Lukashenka spoke the traditional solemn speech at the Victory Monument,” says Alexander, a Minsk resident. — And this year, Khrenin performed instead. Of course, this upset people. People who attended the event noticed that Lukashenka did not look as cheerful as usual. He probably felt really bad. True, it seemed to someone that he was just very tired.
As for the strengthening of security in the capital, the townspeople say that this is an exaggeration. In any case, none of our interlocutors noticed any changes.
— Since 2020, we have a lot of police in the city. And in the most unexpected places. Sometimes in the yards you can meet police «beads», — says a resident of Minsk. — Security measures were further strengthened on May 8 and 9 — law enforcement officers were on duty at every corner. Cars were stopped for checks. It was especially strict at the entrance to the city.
In chats, they wrote that checkpoints were set up on the Belarusian-Russian border to check incoming vehicles. Some were checked phones and staged mini-interrogations. People were not ready for such a development of events.
But since May 10, it has become much calmer. In any case, nothing catches the eye. I think the rumors about Lukashenka's illness were blown up. After all, Alexander Grigoryevich fell ill 3-4 days ago. They didn’t talk about it on TV, but everyone in the city discussed it. He just got cold. And a couple of days ago he was still very hoarse, so he himself did not give a speech in Minsk. We hope that this is true and nothing serious happened to him.
Some Belarusians reacted nervously to our questions about Lukashenka's health. For example, a resident of Vitebsk commented quite sharply: “Are you all sick in the head? Lukashenka is alive and well, he laid a wreath in Minsk live. In Belarus, this topic is not procrastinated like you do. The man is just tired. And in the photographs from the Victory Parade in Moscow, he simply looked unfortunate, because the sun was shining in his face. So write: you won’t wait.”
But a doctor from a Minsk clinic believes that the president could have increased blood pressure: “At his age, this is a frequent occurrence. But nevertheless, in Minsk he went out to the people, well done. Everyone else noticed that he had gained a decent amount of weight lately, which is not good for his health. But I think I heard that he promised to lose weight.”
A pensioner from Gomel added that she had been praying for Lukashenka’s health since yesterday: “I went to church in the morning, almost all parishioners left notes “about the health” of our President».
Today, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov explained the situation with the President of Belarus: he recalled that Lukashenka was in a hurry to return to Minsk, as he was supposed to hold commemorative events in the Belarusian capital, and he called questions about the condition of the Belarusian leader «incorrect».