The Kremlin may publish the transcript of Alyaksandr Lukashenka's statement on the recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions, Aleksei Gromov, deputy head of the Russian Presidential Administration, confirmed on Wednesday.
While talking to reporters, Mr. Gromov denied reports that President Dmitry Medvedev was unhappy with last week's remarks on the subject by his aide Sergei Prikhodko, RIA Novosti said. Mr. Prikhodko, who is Mr. Medvedev's top foreign policy advisor, said on August 14 that the Kremlin could publish the transcript of Mr. Lukashenka's statement declaring his readiness to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
"The so-called competent source that has told various media outlets about the Russian president's alleged discontent with Sergei Prikhodko's remarks… is wrong and deliberately misleading media outlets," Mr. Gromov was quoted as saying.
He said that the source was a Belarusian government official and stressed that Mr. Prikhodko had made the remarks on direct instructions from the Russian president. "This could not be done any other way," Mr. Gromov noted.
Mr. Prikhodko made the remarks one day after Mr. Lukashenka accused the Russian president of distorting his statement on the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
On August 3, Mr. Medvedev said that his Belarusian counterpart had not kept his promise to recognize the Georgian breakaway regions as independent states.
When asked to comment by reporters on August 13, Mr. Lukashenka said, "I wouldn't like to get into a debate about this subject, it's just that the Russian counterpart is plucking certain things [out of the context] dishonestly and unethically."
The fresh war of words comes days before Messrs. Lukashenka and Medvedev are to meet at an informal summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Yerevan, Armenia.
