Opinions & Interviews
Lukashenko responds to talks about war preparations in Belarus
An archive photo
MINSK, 4 October (BelTA) – There is no need to declare mobilization in Belarus, President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a government meeting to discuss military security on 4 October, BelTA has learned.
According to the head of state, the self-exiled opposition has run out of things to do and things to talk about, since there is not much going on in Belarus. “They started jumping on all sorts of occasions: since Russia announced mobilization, they began to say that Belarus would follow suit. I want to bring home to everyone that we do not need mobilization. Fortunately, there is no war on the territory of Belarus,” the Belarusian leader assured.
“I have already said it several times, and I will repeat it: one bastard who looks like a beetroot has recently appeared speaking under the headline “Lukashenko is preparing for war”. It is absolutely right. As long as I have been president, I have been preparing for war. It was not me who devised the phrase: If you want peace, prepare for war. I made it clear several times that we upgrade our Armed Forces. This is probably the fifth upgrade already. We are responding to ongoing developments. And above all, we draw conclusions and learn our lesson from those wars and conflicts that have taken place and are taking place on the planet,” the president said.
According to him, while upgrading its army in recent years and decades, Belarus kept in mind various military operations - from the U.S. Operation Desert Storm to the Russian special military operation in Ukraine.
Aleksandr Lukashenko once again commented on ungrounded speculations about mobilization. Although there is no need for mobilization in Belarus, it is necessary to draw from Russia’s experience when it comes to registration and training of military reservists.
“I warn the military as well as the military enlistment offices through you. Once Russia declared mobilization, we saw the issues it faced. We won’t delve into it - it’s up to the Russian Federation how to conduct mobilization. When Russia started sending draft papers, it turned out that some people were out of Russia. Someone died, someone fled, someone was sick and so on. This is a lesson for us. Therefore, we checked and will check all eligible people in our reserve through military enlistment offices. It should be done in every district in a calm and orderly manner. That is what I told you to do. When harvesting is over, we should ask people to show up at draft offices, see how many reservists we have, check all our materials, lists and documents in enlistment offices,” the head of state noted.
“I emphasize once again: someone may be sick, someone lame, someone dead, someone outside the country... There may be all kinds of situations. And we should build a clear picture of what we have today. This has nothing to do with mobilization. We have done this before,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
Another lesson to be learned from mobilization in Russia is how to train people to defend their land and families, if necessary. “Indeed, they announced mobilization in Russia and drafted people. But many of them forgot how to use weapons. Therefore, we have been continuously training our reservists, our territorial defense troops and will continue to do so. Once again I want to make myself clear: everyone who can and should be armed in Belarus should know how to use weapons, at least simple ones. This applies to both women and men. They should learn how to use at least small arms in order to protect, God forbid something happens, their families," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
He noted that the goal of the Armed Forces and the security forces of Belarus is to defend their land and state. “That’s it. We are not setting any other goals today. And we are preparing for war, because anything can happen. Had we not held our ground here in 2020, other troops would have been stationed near Smolensk now. It is clear where we would have been, first of all, you - people in uniform. The answer is right on the nose. Therefore, learn, learn more, learn forever. And above all, study the art of war seriously. We have always adhered to this principle and we will learn indeed,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president urged to ignore what some people may say about the summoning of reservists to enlistment offices ... We have always done it and will continue doing it! This is not done to send them somewhere to kill. I am not making excuses, but I want you to understand this. At the same time, if God forbid something happens, we will not flee abroad. We will defend our home and our land.”
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