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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin downplays Lukashenka's comments

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the Russian newspaper Kommersant that he did not remember what Alyaksandr Lukashenka had said against him, BelaPAN reports.

"Frankly speaking, I don't even remember now what he [Lukashenka] said there about me," Mr. Putin said. "He made some attempt to bite me, but I somehow didn't register this. I didn't feel inner protest."

Mr. Putin also denied seeing any of the three parts of a scandalous film about Mr. Lukashenka that have recently been broadcast by NTV, a major Russian government-controlled channel.

“There is no conflict between the Russians and the Belarusians and cannot be any,” the Belarusian leader said on August 26. “Everything that is going on is absolutely subjective. It is an interpersonal conflict, and that is why you should view it this way.”