Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 18 February (BelTA) – Belarusian peacekeepers are ready to stand between conflicting sides in Ukraine, provided Poroshenko and Putin reach an agreement. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko made the relevant statement after he cast his vote as part of the municipal elections campaign on 18 February, BelTA has learned.

The head of state stressed that if Belarus was asked to play a role in resolving the conflict in Ukraine, Belarus would do everything necessary without taking sides.

“I’ve even told Poroshenko and Putin: don’t expect me to become someone’s man. I will precisely fulfill what you two agree on: if you want me to stand between [the warring sides], I will; if you want to deploy 10,000 Belarusian troops, we will place them on the border wherever you say,” the president said figuratively. “But I will be unable to do what you don’t agree on.”

It is Belarus’ stance, an honest and sincere one, stressed Alexander Lukashenko. “Otherwise, our peacekeeping effort will not be productive. It will not be productive if we take a side,” said the head of state.

The president said that Belarus submitted proposals on ways of resolving the conflict in the first year of the conflict. However, high-ranking officials in Brussels discarded them then. “I believe now that many Europeans are interested in this conflict despite everything they say about their peacekeeping attitudes. If they had accepted the proposals, there would have been a way,” Alexander Lukashenko was convinced. “Now they are back to the half-measures variety of what I’ve suggested: let’s get Belarusians involved, NATO suggests it, because Russia allegedly trusts Belarusians.”