Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: I am doing everything to end the war in the region

MINSK, 12 September (BelTA) – The Belarusian head of state is doing everything to end the war in the region. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement as he met with representatives of various nationalities, who live in Belarus, BelTA has learned.

During the meeting Vladislav Kadira, Chairman of the Belarusian public association of Ukrainians Vatra, remarked that Belarusians and Ukrainians have travelled down a long historical path together. In his words, it gives all the reasons to state that their unity cannot be destroyed.

“How can anyone justify underhanded intentions, spread barbed wire between hearts of Belarusians and Ukrainians, who are linked by many centuries of history, by the language affinity, by daily lives and especially by the memory of the Great Patriotic War? Today we call upon all the world governments to end conflicts, prevent the growth of antihumanism ideas, stop oppressing people on the basis of their language, race, and ethnicity,” Vladislav Kadira stated.

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that he has never hidden his Ukrainian roots. Regardless of who the president of Ukraine was, Belarus has always tried to establish friendly relations with the country’s leadership. “As a little dog in difficult times I was running between Ukraine and Russia only to keep things normal,” he added. “The things going on in Ukraine make me sad. You know the reason. You must agree that the problem should have been resolved calmly and humanely.”

The head of state reminded that Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk was one of the initiators of the USSR collapse. “Why did they have to destroy the country? Certainly, the mess started in the Kremlin. But we simply rubbed our hands in glee. Kravchuk in Ukraine. Shushkevich in Belarus. We wanted only independence, to get separated from Russia and the rest,” the president said.

Back in the day Aleksandr Lukashenko managed to convince Russia’s leadership to claim the responsibility for those events and continue supporting Belarus and Ukraine, including with cheaper energy resources and access to the Russian market.

However, when Russians started getting oppressed in Ukraine in the 2010s, the Russian Federation could not stay aside and decided to stand up for them. The tragedy in Odessa when tens of pro-Russian activists were burned alive in the House of Trade Unions may be one of the reasons for the consequent confrontation.

The head of state said he had asked representatives of the United States of America what they would do in Russia’s position if, for instance, U.S. citizens were oppressed in neighboring Mexico. In his words, the answer was straightforward: the USA would erase the neighboring country from the face of the Earth.

“Then why do you condemn Russia?” the president asked.

Ukraine and Russia managed to agree on peace during negotiations held in Minsk in February 2015, however, Kiev did not fulfill the agreements and even took pride in this fact. “Vladimir Zelensky inherited this power with huge problems. Then you have to resolve them. You’ve promised you would. But he let it slide into a war,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated.

On the first day of the armed confrontation between Russia and Ukraine the Belarusian president called his Ukrainian counterpart and urged him to start negotiations. Several meetings took place in the Belarusian territory. Russians eagerly came to the talks while Ukrainians played for time as if blackmailing the adversary. Then the negotiations were relocated to Istanbul. It seemed that the parties had come up with initial agreements but the negotiations were disrupted under the influence of the West.

“They singled out the matters that need to be addressed. And Putin says now: ‘We came to terms in Istanbul, if we are to resume talks, let’s proceed from that document.’ It is right. Instead of signing it they should proceed from it taking into account the reality. After all, a lot has changed,” the president said.

Belarus faced accusations of supporting Russia. But it could not have been any other way because the two countries are allies as stipulated by interstate agreements. “50 countries help Ukraine while only Belarus helps Russia because we are legally and practically obligated to do it. Meanwhile, Ukraine introduced sanctions against us sooner than the West did. Why did Ukraine close the sky for our aviation due to farfetched reasons? Ukraine arrested several thousand Belarusian railcars full of mineral fertilizers. Ukraine has yet to return them. Ukraine arrested 75 Belarusian semi-trucks, killed and cut up into pieces three people. We carried out an operation in order to recover the bodies,” the head of state cited several conspicuous facts.

Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that all of it had been done upon instructions of the United States of America, which wanted to start a major fire in the region. “They failed to bend us in 2020. They failed to deploy NATO troops here. What could they do? They saw that we would not yield. And they had to approach Smolensk. All of it was aimed against Russia. We understood it. This is why we acted very carefully. But Ukrainians rushed ahead. Upon orders of Americans they started deteriorating relations with us. They expected that I will also be dragged into the war. They would be just happy if Belarus joined this war. But I am doing as much as I possibly can today in order to end it,” the Belarusian leader stated.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks