What Zelensky and Lukashenko said before 29 November 2021
A look back at two statements made on 26 November 2021, one in Kyiv and one on the Belarusian border, as tensions in the region rose.
What was the mood in the region on 29 November 2021? Days earlier, on 26 November, two leaders had made public statements that set the tone for the new week.
In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of plotting a coup against him. He said the businessman Rinat Akhmetov was being enlisted to help plan it. Zelensky added that his country was prepared for any scenario as tensions rose.
The same day, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appeared at the Belarus–Poland border for the first time since the migrant crisis began. He addressed the migrants there and told them they were free either to return home or to head west. He said Belarus would not detain, choke or beat those who chose to go through, and urged them to go.
The border crisis
The crisis Lukashenko was speaking into had begun in August 2021, when the Belarusian government started sponsoring an influx of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and North Africa, to the borders of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia. Belarus denied involvement. The European Union and independent observers saw it as hybrid warfare, undertaken after relations with the EU deteriorated following the 2020 presidential election and the protests of 2020–2021.
Later figures showed how large the crisis became. Between August and December 2021, tens of thousands of unauthorised crossing attempts were recorded, peaking in October. At least 20 migrants died in the following winter from harsh weather and abuse by border authorities.
The two statements came from different disputes, but both were made in the same week, and both showed a region on edge as November 2021 drew to a close.
