Vladimir Putin was today forced to sit through a lecture on citizens attempting to flee his rule from fellow dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
The Kremlin leader sat hunched and appeared uncomfortable when confronting the news of growing protests across the country.
On Wednesday, Putin announced his plans for a partial military mobilisation in Russia, saying it was a necessary step to ensure Russian territorial integrity.
The policy is forcing thousands of ill-equipped Russians into the army, with punishments of up to 10 years imprisonment if drafted soldiers are caught surrendering, attempting to leave or refusing to fight.
Tens of thousands of military age men are now actively seeking to flee Russia to avoid being drafted to Ukraine.
But, vote-rigger Lukashenko - who needed Putin’s help to crush democracy in Belarus in 2020 - offered the president some words of encouragement.
Lukashenko said Putin would win - despite the growing unrest over his mobilisation.
“Our course is right, our cause is right,” he told Putin, causing the Russian warmonger to smile.
“We will win. We have no other choice.”
"We, as Slavs, would not tolerate humiliation,” Lukashenko told him.
The Belarus leader told Putin not to worry that people are fleeing his rule.
“Let's say 30,000 or 50,000 [people] run away,” said the Minsk tyrant whose brutal and thuggish KGB overturned a democratic victory for a pro-Western opposition.
“But if they stay, would they be our people?
“Let them run away.
“I don't know what you think about it, but I wasn't worried too much in 2020 when people left [Belarus after protests over his vote-rigging].
“They [later] ask to let them in.
“So these ones will also come back.
“But there's a decision needed: what to do with them?
“Let them come back or stay there?”
The lecture was held in Putin’s favourite seaside retreat Sochi, despite reports that he was hiding out in his northern palace in the forests around Valdai.
Lukashenko’s official plane was seen flying to Sochi on Sunday.
But recent reports have alleged that Putin pre-recorded meetings with various officials to give the appearance he was working, when in fact he was “resting”.
Unusually, the Kremlin did not pre-announce Putin’s lecture with Lukashenko, which was first revealed by the Belarus side before being confirmed by Putin’s officials.
One theory is that Putin swiftly summoned one of his only friends - Lukashenko - to show he was not cowering after the outrage from Russians to his mobilisation drive.
