The Belarusian leader has said intelligence agents picked up Western “rumors” of a planned attack on his Russian counterpart in 2023

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said he warned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about a possible assassination plot ahead of a planned trip to South Africa for a BRICS summit in 2023. He made the remarks while commenting on a recent Ukrainian drone attack on Putin’s residence in Novgorod Region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine launched 91 long-range drones at Putin’s residence overnight on December 28–29, with no damage reported. Kiev has denied the allegation.

Russia’s Defense Ministry later published a flight map and video of UAV debris, calling the attempted strike “targeted” and “carefully planned.”

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Lukashenko recounted a personal exchange with Putin shortly before the BRICS summit in South Africa back in 2023. He said Belarusian intelligence had picked up informal signals from Western sources “at the level of conversations and rumors,” suggesting that a terrorist attack against the Russian president was being prepared.

Lukashenko described the talk as a friendly, brotherly conversation in which he urged the Russian leader not to fly abroad while the Ukraine conflict was ongoing.

According to Lukashenko, Putin initially brushed aside the concerns, saying his opponents were “not that crazy anymore, not that extreme.” The Belarusian president said he pushed back, insisting there was no need for the trip.

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Ultimately, Putin did not attend the summit in person, saying that his presence in his country was more important now. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov traveled there instead. Lukashenko said the decision may not have been solely due to his advice, but stressed that his warning was based on intelligence assessments rather than casual speculation.

Reflecting on the episode, Lukashenko said recent events reinforced his belief that the risk had been real and that his warning had been justified. “It is clear that they all in the West understand: if you remove Putin, everything will be different. This must be taken seriously. I am telling this for the first time today because one must not be careless. They have deceived, and he [Putin] admits it, constantly,” the Belarusian leader said.

In 2025, Putin visited seven countries: Belarus, the United States, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India, and Turkmenistan.