Lukashenko wants to ask Putin to send two Belarusians to the ISS

MINSK, March 19 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced his intention to appeal to the head of the Russian state Vladimir Putin with a proposal send three people to the ISS at once — Russian Oleg Novitsky, Belarusian Marina Vasilevskaya, as well as Belarusian Anastasia Lenkova, acting as a backup.
The rocket launch is scheduled for March 21. Novitsky and Vasilevskaya will spend 12 days on the International Space Station and return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. Vasilevskaya will become the first female cosmonaut in the history of independent Belarus.

«If you feel good (after returning from the ISS — ed.), I will ask the Russians to let the three of us fly — Nastya, Marina and you,” the state agency Belta quotes Lukashenko as saying at a video conference meeting with the main crew.
“I would like the three of you to fly,” added the President of Belarus. Novitsky replied that he would love to fly.
«Okay. Then, when I meet with the President of Russia, I will slowly drop these questions,» the Belarusian leader promised.