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Authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on March 26 that the attackers, who carried out the attack on the concert hall near Moscow last week, tried to flee to his country but could not because of extra security measures.
According to state news agency BelTA, Lukashenko was quoted as saying that security measures had been put in place along the border between Belarus and Russia since it became clear that the perpetrators had traveled to the Russian region of Bryansk, which borders Belarus and Ukraine. .
When the attackers fled southwest of Moscow to the Bryansk region, Belarus quickly set up checkpoints.
"That's why they couldn't enter Belarus. They understood this, so they turned back and went to the border area between Ukraine and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and I have not slept for a day. There has been continuous interaction", said Lukashenko, who is an ally of Russia.
Putin has claimed that the suspects wanted to leave for Ukraine. Ukraine and the United States have rejected the claim, saying Ukraine was not involved in the attack that killed 139 people on March 22.
The militant group, the Islamic State of Khorasan, has claimed responsibility for the attack, and the US and other Western countries have said they regard the claim as credible. But Russian officials continue to insist that Ukraine was involved in the attack.
Aleksandr Bortnikov, head of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), on March 26 repeated Putin's claim that not only Ukraine but the West had a role in the deadly attack.
Without offering any evidence, Bortnikov claimed that Western spy agencies may also have been involved in the attack, although he acknowledged receiving a tip from the US earlier in March about a possible terrorist attack.
Lukashenko's version of events echoes comments by Belarus' ambassador to Russia, Dzmitry Krutoy, who earlier said that Belarusian special services "helped Russia fulfill its task of preventing terrorists from escaping across the border."
Political analyst Artyom Shreibman told Radio Free Europe that the statements made by Lukashenka and Krutoy contradict what Russia says. If the attackers wanted to leave for Ukraine, then Belarus "had absolutely nothing to do."
Shreibman said any Ukrainian involvement meant it would be necessary to think of a way for the attackers to escape.
He said that Putin and other Russian government officials are trying to promote the "Ukrainian narrative" about this terrorist attack.
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