The press service of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko reports that French President Emmanuel Macron called him on Sunday. Although Paris has not yet officially confirmed that the conversation took place, sources from AFP say that Macron did indeed speak with Lukashenko, the “BBC.News” Telegram channel reported on May 24.
A brief official statement on Lukashenko's website says that the conversation took place "at the initiative of the French side" and that the leaders "discussed regional issues and Belarus's relations with the EU and France in particular".
However, an AFP source, described by the agency as "a source close to Macron", stated that the French president urged Lukashenko "not to become involved in moscow's war against Ukraine".
"Macron emphasized the risks for Belarus if it allows itself to be drawn into russia's aggressive war against Ukraine", - the agency quoted its source as saying. "He also called on Alexander Lukashenko to take the necessary steps to improve relations between Belarus and Europe", - the source added.
This was Macron's first conversation with Lukashenko since February 2022, when the French leader called his Belarusian counterpart twice: immediately before the start of the full-scale russian invasion and shortly afterward.
In recent weeks, Kyiv has warned that russia may be preparing new attacks on Ukrainian territory from Belarus.