UPDATE - Belarusian president claims attempted sabotage by Ukraine thwarted

UPDATES WITH RESPONSE BY UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER, CHANGES HEADLINE

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday claimed that authorities thwarted an attempted sabotage of an A-50 aircraft in the Machulishchy air base in the Minsk region by Ukraine.

During an award ceremony in the capital Minsk, Lukashenko claimed that a person and his accomplices, all of which allegedly work for the Ukrainian Security Service, were detained before attempting sabotage, according to Belarusian state news agency Belta.

"The Security Service of Ukraine, the leadership of the CIA worked out an operation against the Republic of Belarus either behind our backs or from the side," Lukashenko was quoted as saying.

He further said the person arrested is an ethnic Russian born in Ukraine, who also held a Russian and Ukrainian passport.

"He was recruited by Ukraine's intelligence service probably in 2014. An IT professional or someone who knows IT technologies well. He was trained to carry out terrorist attacks," he added.

Lukashenko also claimed that the alleged attack was in preparation six to eight months in advance and the person detained had been trained for more than a month by Ukraine's security services before being sent to Belarus.

In response to Lukashenko's claims, Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of Ukraine's presidential office, demanded clarification for the words of the Belarusian president.

"We should clarify definitions. A terrorist attack is when rockets are fired at Ukrainian cities from the territory of Belarus. Sabotage is when subversive groups enter from the Belarusian border. The attack on the A-50 is an anti-terrorist act carried out, by the way, by local partisans," he said on Twitter.

Belarus, a close ally of Russia, has aided Moscow's ongoing war on Kyiv – which has decimated large swathes of Ukraine and led to mass deaths and displacements – but is not a direct party to the war.

Lukashenko said last December that Minsk has no plans to fight against Ukraine but will respond if attacked.