Alyaksandr Lukashenka has accepted Viktor Sheiman’s resignation from the post of the head of affairs of the President of Belarus. This was reported on the website of the Belarusian president.

You have written your resignation report many times. I disagreed with this. But I understand that once the time comes, you have had enough in your life. Honestly, I am grateful to you for everything that has been done. <…> I understand that both the family and the children, and many, many more questions. Therefore, I agree with your new page in life, I will say this. But I would very much ask you not to go far (and generally not to depart from the state) and lend your shoulder where it is needed. <…> You see the situation around Belarus. God forbid you and I still take the machine gun in our hands and defend the country.

Sheiman became the chief executive officer of the President of Belarus in 2013. Formally, he will leave office after Lukashenka signs the corresponding decree.

In the  video , which was posted by the Pool Pervy telegram channel associated with the press service of the Belarusian president, Lukashenko promised to offer Sheiman “ several options for work” in the summer of 2021.

The President noted that Viktor Sheiman has extensive life experience and has come a long career path. From a young lieutenant who passed Afghanistan, he rose to colonel general. This is the highest military rank in Belarus, and Viktor Sheiman today is the only one who wears these general’s shoulder straps, being listed in the service of the state.

Viktor Sheiman is one of the closest associates of Alexander Lukashenko. Since 1994, when Lukashenko became president of Belarus, Sheiman has held a number of high positions, including the positions of the secretary of the Security Council, the prosecutor general, and the head of the presidential administration.

Sheiman’s name remained on the  sanctions lists  even after the main packages of US and EU sanctions against Belarus were lifted in the 2010s. He was associated with “death squads”, whose members are accused of killing Lukashenka’s political opponents in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

(C)MEDUZA 2021