Despots Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko have arranged a date to visit Antarctica, amid broiling tensions with the West.

The pair, respective leaders of Russia and Belarus, were sat together at a meeting held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on Sunday, where they spoke with Russian polar scientists from the Vostok research station, located close to the South Pole, via video-chat. 

The scientists have opened a new wintering facility at the station, the construction of which was described as ‘Russia’s flagship project in the Antarctic region’ by Russian state news agency TASS. 

During the call, Lukashenko, 69, was apparently so impressed by the new facility that he asked Putin, 71, to join him on a future trip to the base. 

Lukashenko said: ‘Let’s go some time? Looks interesting!’ 

Vladimir Putin (pictured, left) and Alexander Lukashenko (pictured, right) met in Saint Petersburg on Sunday 

During the call, Lukashenko, 69, was apparently so impressed by the new facility that he asked Putin, 71, to join him on a future trip to the base

Putin, less enthusiastically, responded: ‘Yes, okay.’ 

Though the two despots may be organising catch-up sessions, tensions between Belarus and Russia, and the West, have been rising. 

During the Saint Petersburg visit, which saw Putin speak at a memorial to mark 80 years since the end of the Nazis’ seige of Leningrad, the name of the city at the time, The Russian leader ramped up his attacks against Kyiv, claiming that Volodymr Zelensky’s regime ‘glorifies Hitler’s accomplices, the SS.’

Putin’s claims come just three days after Lukashenko’s own government launched an investigation into 20 independent analysts and political commentators now outside the country and accused of conspiring to seize power and promote extremism, following a series of searches and detentions of people, many of who were once jailed for political dissent against Belarus’s long-serving president Alexander Lukashenko.

One human rights group said more than 150 people were affected by the police action.

The United States, which has long imposed sanctions on Belarus alongside the European Union, denounced the latest punitive measures.

The Russian leader ramped up his attacks against Kyiv, claiming that Volodymr Zelensky’s regime ‘glorifies Hitler’s accomplices, the SS’

Putin’s claims come just three days after Lukashenko’s own government launched an investigation into 20 independent analysts and political commentators

Belarus’s Investigative Committee said the analysts ‘took an active part in the development and implementation of the concept of destructive activities aimed at harming national security’.

The group includes political commentators and economists as well as officials linked to exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, beaten by Lukashenko in the 2020 election.

‘The regime is trying to push the country into an information bubble,’ Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in neighbouring Lithuania, wrote on Telegram.

‘The wave of repression against analysts and experts is simply revenge against those who honestly assess the situation in Belarus and propose real ways out of the crisis.’

The human rights group Viasna (Spring) said on its website that at least 157 people had been subject to detentions and questioning. Most, it said, had been released or charged with minor offences, but some faced charges of abetting extremism.

The US State Department said Washington ‘condemns the Lukashenko regime’s recent raids [and] detentions’ and vowed to hold the government responsible ‘for its harsh internal repression as well as for its ongoing support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.’

In power since 1994, Lukashenko staged a new crackdown on dissent after stamping out unprecedented demonstrations against what his opponents say was his rigged re-election in 2020.

Putin backed him in that confrontation and Lukashenko allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging post for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko, dependent on Moscow for political and economic support, agreed last year to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in his country on Russia’s western border. But he has rejected any notion of committing troops to the war in Ukraine.