MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. The Kremlin can understand the emotions of Belarusian authorities but refutes Minsk’s criticism of Moscow’s decision to close the Russian-Belarusian border amid the coronavirus spread as unfair, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
He pointed out that the Russian prime minister had notified his Belarusian counterpart of the move in advance. "This is why - we can surely understand their emotional state - but we definitely consider such criticism to be unfair, particularly because we stand together in the fight against the coronavirus," Peskov added.
When asked to comment on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s statement about plans to hold a telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Peskov said that as far as he knew, no such conversation had taken place on Monday. "I don’t have information on whether a conversation will be held today, it’s not on the president’s schedule though his agenda is quite heavy today," the Kremlin spokesman pointed out. He emphasized that "the presidents of Russia and Belarus call each other often and can to it at any time."
On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the Russian-Belarusian border would be closed due to the coronavirus. The Belarusian president, in turn, said he was surprised at the decision. "The coronavirus has set Russia on fire," Lukashenko said, adding that it was Belarus that should fear that the virus would spread to the country from Russia. The Russian cabinet responded by pointing out that in relation to the population, the situation in Belarus was more serious than in Russia and it wouldn’t be right to say that the coronavirus had set the country on fire.