Lukashenko plays ice hockey as crisis sharpens on Belarus-EU border

MOSCOW (Reuters)– Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko played ice hockey on Saturday, obviously cleaning off the risk of brand-new worldwide assents over a migrant dilemma on the boundary with the European Union.

The 67-year-old, in power for 27 years, showed up in red set posturing for video cameras on the rink in photos released on his web site which stated his group defeated a Minsk area side 5-2.

In video footage that might have been timed to predict an air of indifference to his standoff with the West, Lukashenko can be seen trying objective as well as bumping hands with fellow group companions, at one factor attracting joys from the group.

Like his primary advocate, Russian Head of state Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko is a veteran hockey follower as well as has actually utilized it to predict a strongman picture in the house.

Lukashenko has actually exasperated the European Union which has actually implicated Minsk of placing a “hybrid strike” on it by flying in hundreds of travelers, mostly from the Center East, as well as pressing them to attempt to go across unlawfully right into Poland.

The EU is getting ready to enforce assents on Belarus.

The hockey video footage did not mention the dilemma, however the head of state’s workplace stated previously on Saturday that Lukashenko had actually bought the circulation as well as distribution of altruistic help to the travelers at the boundary.

Independently, Lukashenko stated he intended to get Russian nuclear-capable Iskander rocket systems to release them in the south as well as west of the nation in a meeting with a Russian support publication released on Saturday.

(Coverage by Tom Balmforth; modifying by Andrew Cawthorne)