Putin and Lukashenko visit the Valaam Monastery near Finland in July this year (Image: GETTY )

       Alexander Lukashenko has been branded an “accomplice” to Vladimir Putin and his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

       The Belarusian leader has refrained from involving his own armed forces in Putin’s “special military operation” but has allowed Russian forces to move into Ukraine from military outposts in his country.

       Wagner Group mercenaries, having been relocated to a makeshift camp south and west of the Belarusian capital of Minsk, have also created considerable unease among neighbouring NATO members fearful of their propensity to lawlessness and their complicated connection to the Kremlin.

       Their stationing in Belarus followed a mutinous march on Moscow in June and was agreed following a deal involving Lukashenko, the late Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin and, crucially, Vladimir Putin, who many suspect was fully aware of the impact of this move on the neighbouring allied community.

       After nearly 19 months of war in Ukraine, the European Parliament has decided that these actions make him guilty of enabling Putin’s “unjustified war of aggression” against Ukraine and that he bears responsibility “for the destruction and damage caused”.

       READ MORE Lukashenko refuses to force Wagner out of Belarus after Prigozhin death [REVEAL ]

       Wagner Group forces remain in Belarus despite their leader Prigozhin's death (Image: EXPRESS)

       They called on all other European Union institutions to criminally prosecute Belarusian officials “who are complicit in the crime of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide committed against Ukraine”.

       In the first weeks of the war, Russian forces were allowed to use Belarus as a staging post to launch an attack on Kyiv in the north of Ukraine.

       Despite warnings from the United States, the prospect of Lukashenko affording Putin the use of his country for an attack in northern Ukraine was so shocking that President Volodymyr Zelensky refused to believe the Pentagon’s reports prior to February 24, when the invasion began.

       It was only when Kyrylo Budanov, the reticent chief of the Ukrainian intelligence services, stood up during a private meeting of Zelensky’s inner circle one evening towards late February and said he had information corroborating the US’s reports, and that it was vital to take them seriously, did the reality of this attack dawn on the president.

       While the Belarusian domestic population, which exiled opposition leaders describe as “trapped” in their own country, appeared for the most part against the invasion, their country proved a vital stepping stone for the “special military operation”.

       They called on all other European Union institutions to criminal prosecute Belarusian officials “who are complicit in the crime of aggression, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide committed against Ukraine”.

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       That Kyiv attack failed miserably - Russian soldiers were pushed back from the capital by a determined defensive force largely manned by civilians who had hurriedly picked up a gun and started shooting - but Belarus’ role in the offensive was unquestionable.

       The European Parliament has now recognised this, branding Lukashenko an “accomplice” to Vladimir Putin, who is recognised as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

       Whether Lukashenko will eventually incur the same penalty as Putin - the Russian autocrat cannot travel to the 123 signatories of the ICC without facing arrest - remains unclear, even unlikely, but the decision is a significant diplomatic step.

       Lukashenko and Putin have maintained close ties throughout the invasion. This move may prove the first of many that indelibly tie the two together.

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