Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko meet on Friday afternoon in Sochi.

Faced with growing pressure from the European Union, five days after the diversion of a flight and the arrest of Roman Protassevich, the two leaders are more than ever united.

DECRYPTION

One again.

A new Paris-Moscow flight was canceled on Friday morning, the third since the start of the week.

It was impossible to take off because the Kremlin did not give the green light to change the flight plan and avoid the skies of Belarus.

For Moscow, the European Union is thus "endangering" passengers while Minsk has shown "transparency" after the hijacking of a plane on Sunday.

Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, who meet on Friday afternoon, should stage their proximity to Brussels.

Sanctions hang over the meeting

Officially, it is above all a strategic visit that must be held between the two heads of state.

Alexander Lukashenko is expected in Russia at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. in Paris), at Vladimir Putin's summer residence in Sochi.

The program is posted: economic cooperation, rapprochement between the two countries ... But the threats of sanctions from the European Union will hang over this meeting.

Because for the Twenty-Seven, it is time to touch Alexander Lukashenko in the wallet and that means attacking Russian gas which passes through Belarus.

For the moment, Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian ally are standing up against Brussels, brushing aside the (many) criticisms with the back of the hand.

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The fate of Protassevich not mentioned?

Another question: will the fate of journalist Roman Protassevich, arrested aboard the hijacked plane on Sunday, be discussed on Friday afternoon?

"Russia and Belarus are aligned on one point: protests from civil society must be stopped, even crushed, period," analyzes Anna Colin Lebedev, lecturer in political science at the University of Paris-Nanterre .

"The fate of a journalist, however visible it may be to the eyes of the international community, will not be discussed. Or at least, not publicly."

The international community is keeping the pressure on Belarus.

An investigation was opened Thursday by the UN civil aviation agency to shed light on the hijacking of the Ryanair flight.