News & Events in Belarus
Situation at Ukrainian border, migrants, unexpected prisoner exchange. Hot details from president
MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made a number of comments on hot-button topics in his speech during a solemn assembly held in the Palace of the Republic on 2 July in anticipation of Independence Day, BelTA has learned.
After a protocol address to the Belarusian nation on the occasion of Independence Day, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked he would like to dwell on the matters that the general public is worried about. These matters are definitely discussed by people and are regularly covered by mass media and experts. The situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border was the first one.
The situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border
“I’ve noticed that all the mass media and what not very actively discuss the situation at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. What is really going on? Here is a take from the horse’s mouth as they say. Frankly speaking, nothing special [is going on]. Our neighbors took very active actions in the last few days. Possibly a couple of weeks. Very active. And our military personnel, particularly the border service noticed it right away. They delivered reports: as a matter of principle, it had been expected,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The concentration of Ukrainian troops at the border may be related to the arrival in Belarus of a large number of military personnel from friendly countries, including from Russia, for the sake of participation in celebrations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Belarus’ liberation.
“But in no way should we allow any escalation or any aggravation. I want the Ukrainian leadership to hear me. The concentration of troops albeit insignificant ones is very dangerous during combat operations. We’ve analyzed the situation. We understand perfectly well that we need no aggravation. We’ve always said it. Ukrainians understand that we will retaliate,” the head of state said.
He cited excerpts from Russian mass media, which say that the Belarusian president suffers from “positive color blindness”. They say that Aleksandr Lukashenko will not draw any red lines and Belarus’ response to an aggression will be terrible. “If someone crosses the Ukrainian border, I will not have simply good color blindness. I may start suffering from night blindness. This is why the response will be truly harsh and sudden,” the Belarusian leader stated.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the Belarusian border service has been switched to enhanced security mode. Units of the special operations forces and other reconnaissance units have been deployed. The Belarusian army now covers probable axes of advance of the enemy. Apart from that, Air Force units and air defense units of both Belarus and Russia are on high alert. Missile systems Polonez and Iskander have been deployed.
“I’d like to warn you not to worry. Remember what I’ve always told you: everyone should just do their jobs. I guarantee that we will not allow any clashes at the border with Ukraine. They won’t happen,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he commented on tensions at the border.
The president stressed that neither Belarus nor Ukraine wants combat operations since the battlefield situation is getting worse and worse for Ukraine. “This is why, as I analyze this situation every day, I concluded that they are trying to distract us from the key nasty stuff you know where. This is why some movement has started over there,” he noted.
He added that NATO does not want to end the war in Ukraine and wants Belarus to get involved in combat operations. However, the president assured that he will not allow that to happen.
“We are not going to get involved in any combat operations because we know what the outcome will be. But NATO needs a pretext: the frontline situation is catastrophic for Ukrainians. It is very serious. And the West responds to proposals on peace talks with escalation all the time. A huge amount of money has been invested in Ukraine. I am absolutely convinced that Americans and the West do not intend to withdraw from Ukraine. It is an excellent staging point, good lands. They have already been pawned and sold. Who will leave Ukraine? But Ukraine has no fighters left. This is why a serious escalation is needed in order to deploy NATO units over there. Mercenaries cannot handle Russians. This is the danger of the situation. And we know where they will come from,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.
The president cited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who had asked Aleksandr Lukashenko to cover him from behind. “This is where they will come from. So that this mouse hunting on the part of Ukrainians at our border would not serve as a cover of the main thrust that we may get if we talk in military parlance. But we have taken all the precautions,” he said. “We set up defenses at the southern border and the western one in order to prevent any mishaps like those, which have already happened in our history. If we and our Russian allies respond together to such things, trust me, we will be able to preserve peace and calm in our Belarusian land. I am not trying to inflate tensions. The tensions are already as high as they can be.”
Migration flows at the Belarusian-Polish border
“Why am I speaking about this problem? Because today it is used to pressure us in the West. Particularly our ‘friends’, our closest neighbors are working hard on it: Poland’s leadership,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained. “They have already gone so far that… President Duda went to Xi Jinping and complained about Lukashenko. He asked Xi Jinping to influence Lukashenko and Putin so that they would end this migration.”
The president suggested answering the key questions concerning reasons for migration. Where do the people run from? Where to? And why? “Where do these people run from? From the countries that Americans and their allies have destroyed. We know it. We see it. Who flees across Belarus? Primarily people from Afghanistan. They sell everything they have, save several thousand U.S. dollars and flee,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out. In his words, these poor people need money primarily for the sake of making payments in Poland to those, who can organize their transit to Germany, and it is a well-known fact. Migrants are intent on getting into Germany. They were once invited to go to that country. “If you invited them, then accommodate them,” the head of state noted reasonably. “You invited them to come. They are coming to you.”
The president reminded that Belarus had been very seriously cooperating with the West before the West introduced sanctions against Belarus. Cooperation went as far as the signing of a readmission agreement. “Then all of it was scrapped [by the West]. ‘We don’t need that.’ Okay then. Do I need it?” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “We will not restrain them.”
Apart from that, the migrant traffic has been influenced by the aggravation of the conflict in Ukraine. “One way or another the land routes converged in Belarus. And I said it plainly: we are not going to catch them. Our job is to ensure the security of our own nation,” the Belarusian leader said.
In the past Poland used water cannons against migrants in cold months of the year and beatings. Now these migrants get killed and their bodies are dumped at the Belarusian border. “We are already tired of showing all these facts. And where are European democracies? Where are Americans, who root for human rights?” the president asked rhetorical questions.
“The key thing is that I have no intention of ordering the border service, the army, and the rest, the civilians to defend the European Union at the border of Belarus and Poland. You’ve started choking us and force us to protect you from these poor people,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Prisoner exchange with Ukraine
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “And a very small question that I see on people’s minds. My aides prompted me to talk about it. I didn’t even pay attention to it in social networks. Exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine. Very recently. I wouldn’t even talk about it since it is a routine matter. It is determined by the Russian president. He told me about it. The work proceeds with difficulties but all kinds of things happen. People may be taken prisoner here and over there. Russians have way more prisoners. Ukraine has way fewer. I also know that. From sources in Ukraine.”
“Pay attention. If our self-exiled opposition did not notice that a man had gone missing…. His name is Shvets. He tried to blow up a Russian reconnaissance aircraft in Machulishchi. You remember it. We carried out that operation within two days. We neutralized him and his accomplices. ‘Gone missing’. Naturally he surfaced in Ukraine and said he had been swapped. They should be joyful that their man is in Ukraine now. I don’t know whether he is free or not. Probably free. His parents met with this saboteur. Everything was simple. No priests were involved in it. It was a request of the Russian president: help free the prominent priest Ionafan if you can. Ukrainians approached us with this request. I asked Putin what we should do. This is why we gave this man to Ukraine. They gave us the priest,” the president revealed the details.
In turn, the Ukrainian side heard the proposal to exchange heavily injured Russians and they did just that. “They transferred three more people. We took them outside Brest and handed them over to Russians outside Gomel,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “A prominent Ukrainian army officer nominated these people for the exchange because they would have died otherwise. This is how we’ve managed to save lives of three people. There is no doubt it is important.”
The president explained he had decided to talk about the matter now because the self-exiled opposition is trying to use the news against Belarus by describing it as a successful escape of the saboteur. “Nobody has escaped. It was a request of the Russian president, which we have fulfilled while saving particularly these three guys, who will live,” the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko’s words were met with applause and the president responded to it: “You see, you support such actions. I had absolutely no doubt about it. We are people and we should act like people do.”
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