Media: Lukashenko’s private plane in Switzerland

Far from Minsk to Basel. There are no scheduled flights to Switzerland. You can probably get from the Belarusian capital to the Rhine city in six hours with a transfer to Budapest. After all, it wasn’t until August 30 that a plane took off for a direct flight. According to Radarbox, a business-class Gulfstream private jet, the G550 took off from Minsk shortly after 1 p.m. and landed in Basel two hours later.

Basel airport spokespersons confirmed the fact that the plane landed at the airport. The plane is believed to have been stationed in Basel since then. There is no information that the plane has departed.

According to a Swiss newspaper, the plane is painted in the colors of the Belarusian flag.

“The aircraft’s color solution is almost identical to the Boeing 747 used by Belarusian President Lukashenko as a presidential aircraft. The plane with license plate number EW-001PJ, which landed in Basel seven days ago, is also believed to be specifically targeting Lukashenko and his family.

Lukashenko’s personal plane was first announced in January this year by the Telegram channel NEXTA, close to the country’s opposition. Following the announcement, a Belarusian official categorically rejected the information that Lukashenko had his own plane.

“But this does not mean that Lukashenko was unable to buy a private plane with state funds,” the article emphasizes.

According to the post, Viktor Lukashenko’s son Viktor and related oligarchs have recently flown a Gulfstream. Lukashenko Jr. controls the country’s security apparatus and is accused of suppressing extremely brutal protests. Viktor Lukashenko made an official visit to Switzerland for the last time in January 2020.

So what is the Belarusian Gulfstream EW-001PJ currently operating in Basel? Did the Lukashenko family join you? Maybe he flew a valuable cargo abroad? The Foreign Ministry has no information on whether there is at least one member of the Lukashenko family in Switzerland and whether there has been one recently, explained a spokesman for the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

“It was not possible to contact the Belarusian diplomatic mission in Bern. According to a source with a lot of information about the Bern airport, the plane probably arrived in Switzerland for maintenance,” the article says.

“It is very possible that the president, against whom hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets and who can only govern his country with the help of the violence of the militias, is almost sick from the technical state of his private plane. But only one year for that plane ”, the article clarifies.

The Gulfstream G550 was manufactured in the spring of 2019 in the United States. The cost of this eight-seater plane is 61 million. dollars, and its maintenance each year, including anti-corrosion measures, amounts to approximately one million dollars. Until recently, this business class aircraft was owned by the Austrian airline Avcon Jet. In the fall of 2019, it was sold and flew to Belarus, “the article says.

“Such a relatively new aircraft is unlikely to require serious technical work. And if so, why is it necessary to do them in Switzerland? At Basel airport, there are companies that specialize not only in aircraft repair, but also in the field of luxury personal aircraft installation ”, the authors of the publication affirm.

Belarus also has representation in Basel, according to the Swiss daily, but Belarusian Honorary Consul in Switzerland, Germann Bayeller, says he “has no information” about the presence of the Gulfstream EW-001PJ in Switzerland.

“Earlier, your employee, speaking with a bright Russian accent, vigorously denied over the phone the fact that there is a Belarusian plane in Switzerland: according to him,” it is 100 percent. false information ”, publishes Tages-Anzeiger.