Israeli Ambassador Sure Meir Dagan Safe in Minsk
Israeli Ambassador Yosef Shagal has described as “lies and speculation” reports that Aliaksandr Lukashenka's recent revelation that Meir Dagan is undergoing treatment in Belarus has put the life of the former chief of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad in danger, BelaPAN informs.
Speaking to reporters in Minsk on Monday, the Soviet-born ambassador said that Dagan had arrived in Belarus in company with security guards and was also guarded by Belarusian security services. “Let me assure you that cooperation between such security services guarantees security to any citizen, the more so as it is on the territory of Belarus,” Shagal said. “There is no and may be no threat to his safety.”
The ambassador confirmed that Dagan had been operated on by a French surgeon. “But he carried out the [surgery] together with Belarusian doctors using Belarusian equipment and expressed a high opinion of the skills of the Belarusian doctors,” he said.
According to Shagal, the former spy chief is recovering after the liver transplant in the company of his wife and daughter and may leave Belarus in a week.
The ambassador said that Mr. Dagan had chosen Belarus for his treatment due to good relations between the two countries. “I won't say what channels were used. The main thing is that it helped save a human life. Belarus helped Israel, we are grateful and will repay it,” he said.
Dagan, who had been diagnosed with liver cancer, underwent the transplant surgery at the Minsk-based National Center for Organ and Tissue Transplantation earlier this month.
The Sunday Times reports Mossad has sent a enough agents to Minsk “not only to defend the hospital but the entire city.”