Belarusian Foreign Ministry says no political motive behind attack on its diplomat in Turkey
MINSK. July 25 (Interfax) - The recent attack on counsellor of the Belarusian embassy to Turkey Alexander Poganshev was not politically motivated, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said.
"In our view, there was no political motive behind it," Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei said, responding to a question from reporters in Minsk on Thursday.
"The Turkish foreign minister promptly contacted me and informed of the incident," Makei said.
"The Turkish side has engaged competent agencies and an investigation is now under way, which will give us a general idea of why it happened," he said.
"But for now, tentatively, it had no political motive," he said.
The attack on the Belarusian diplomat may have been connected to "some kind of dissatisfaction with the behavior of children that were playing in the yard, which might have resulted in a psychological outburst leading to such an outcome," Makei said.
As reported earlier, Poganshev, counsellor at the Belarusian embassy to Turkey, was taken to hospital after sustaining serious gunshot wounds. He had been out walking with his son in Ankara when a man attacked him. He is still in hospital and believed to be in a critical but stable condition.