MINSK, November 24. /TASS/. Belarusian Interior Minister Ivan Kubrakov on Thursday expressed doubt that people involved in the killing of two Poles by Ukrainian missiles would be identified and detained.
"As of today, a criminal case will probably be started. I’m telling you my opinion as a man of law. They will do that in a bid to reassure the relatives of those killed people. Not more than that. Most likely, that won’t result in the detention of the people that involved in the perpetrating the crime," the minister said in an interview to the "Markov. Nothing Personal" program on the ONT television channel.
"As for that situation ... Mind the attitude. People have died. But no one looked into it from the get go," the Belarusian minister said. "The event happened and just a few minutes later the news media reported Russia deliberately launched [the missiles]. Yes, they shoved it away without an investigation. But as soon as it became obvious that these were Ukraine's missiles, everything became completely different," Kubrakov said.
"You've barely heard of these people who died. They try to downplay it," the minister said.
A missile crashed in the village of Przewodow in eastern Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship close to the border with Ukraine on November 15, killing two people. Polish President Andrzej Duda said on November 17 the missile was part of the Ukrainian air defense system. Warsaw believes that was an accident. The US State Department said the US has a full confidence in the accuracy of conclusions made by Poland. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the missile was fired by a Ukrainian S-300 air defense system.