Lukashenka spoke about the request to Moscow to allocate an "anticoid"

Belarus asked Russia to provide a new loan to fight the coronavirus pandemic through the Eurasian Development Bank in exchange for the IMF loan that was not received by Minsk for this purpose. This, answering a question from an RBC correspondent, was announced by President Alexander Lukashenko during the "Big Conversation" with the public and the media.

“If the Russians would help us additionally through the Eurasian Bank... We would be grateful solely in connection with the pandemic,” Lukashenka said.

He explained that Minsk needed a new loan after the IMF refused to provide funds to fight the pandemic. “The IMF gave us a billion dollars, but our “fugitives” raised a howl: you can’t give money to the regime. And this money under COVID, we have already spent $1.5 billion on treating people,” he said.

“Therefore, we would be grateful, I told Putin, if we could [allocate money] through the Eurasian Bank,” Lukashenka added.