Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about a assassination plot ahead of a planned visit to South Africa to attend the BRICS summit in 2023.
Sharing with the press on December 31, 2025, President Lukashenko recounted his personal exchange with President Putin right before the BRICS summit in South Africa in 2023.
He said that Belarusian intelligence has collected unofficial signals from Western sources "at the level of conversations and rumors" showing that a terrorist attack on the Russian President is being prepared.
President Lukashenko described it as a friendly conversation, in which the Belarusian leader called on the Russian leader not to go abroad while the conflict in Ukraine is taking place.
According to Mr. Lukashenko, Mr. Putin initially dismissed concerns, emphasizing that his opponents "did not lose their minds, were not so extreme". The Belarusian President refuted and affirmed that the Russian leader did not need to carry out that visit.
Finally, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not attend the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa, emphasizing that his presence in the country at that time was more important.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the head of the delegation attending this summit.
Belarusian President Lukashenko said that Russian President Putin's decision may not be entirely due to his advice, but emphasized his warning about the assassination plot based on intelligence assessment and not arbitrary speculation.
Recalling the incident, President Lukashenko said that recent events have strengthened his belief that the risk is real and his warning is justified.
The information was released by the Belarusian leader when commenting on the Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack on President Putin's residence in Novgorod recently.
Regarding the UAV attack on President Putin's mansion in the Novgorod region on the night of December 28-29, 2025, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Ukraine had launched 91 long-range drones. No damage was recorded in the attack.
The Russian Ministry of Defense then released a flight path map and video of unmanned aerial vehicle debris, calling this a deliberate and carefully planned attack.
For its part, Ukraine has denied accusations about this attack.
In 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited 7 countries: Belarus, the United States, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Turkmenistan.
