The dictators of Russia and Belarus, Putin and Lukashenko, visited Valaam Island, the Kremlin press service reported.
After the negotiations in St. Petersburg, the third this summer, Putin and Lukashenko went to the Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Valaam Stauropegium Monastery. There they honored the relics of Saints Sergey and German, who, according to legend, protected the monastery from the invasion of the Swedes.
Then Putin and Lukashenko attended a service in the church of the Smolensk icon of the Mother of God, where, as propagandists reported, they took part in a prayer “for the bestowal of victory on the Russian army.”
Earlier, Putin and Lukashenko visited the Kronshtadt Maritime Cathedral, the main temple of the Russian Navy, where they honored the relics of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.
The visit to Valaam, the first for Putin and Lukashenko since 2019, came three days after U.S. intelligence finally confirmed the transfer of Russian tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.
At the end of March, the Kremlin announced plans to deploy nuclear warheads outside the Russian Federation for the first time since the Soviet era, promising to modernize 10 warplanes of the Belarusian Air Force to be able to carry Iskander missiles. Lukashenko immediately called the Russian weapon his own (“this is our weapon”) and promised to use it to protect sovereignty, in particular from Poland, which, according to Lukashenko, is allegedly preparing to attack Belarus.
