Lukashenko: I did everything to prevent Russia-Ukraine conflict
Before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict began, the Belarusian side did everything to prevent an armed confrontation – as stated by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in his talk with Japanese TBS TV channel, BelTA reports
"Before Ukraine’s conflict with Russia (you know my standpoint), I did everything to ensure there’s no war there but peace. I was even ready to close the border between Donbass and Russia. You know, these are 400km – and I was ready to close this border with our border guards and provide other assistance to Ukraine. Russia agreed with this – but Ukraine refused. Why? This is because the West was pushing them into this war," the Head of State said.
Moreover, Ukraine imposed sanctions against Belarus – doing this even earlier than the West. “They blocked us from flying through Ukraine: that is, they closed the airspace. They restricted all sorts of flights – though, at the time when they had a conflict with Russia, since 2014, Belarus was such a point through which they flew to Russia and other countries," Aleksandr Lukashenko explained, adding, “They were training militants against us on the territory of Ukraine, and they are training now. They were supplying explosives and weapons for terrorist gangs to our country, but we have neutralised them. Everyone knows about it."
"That is, Ukraine has taken a hostile position against Belarus. Tell me, how should we have behaved in this situation?" the Belarusian leader asked a rhetorical question.
As reported by BelTA, in the interview, Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on the situation in Ukraine, ways to resolve the conflict and Belarus' stance on this issue. "In this situation, not a single Belarusian soldier is fighting in Ukraine. Despite a hostile position they have taken towards Belarus – being pushed by the West (we have turned this page), literally on the third or fourth day of this war, I called Zelenskyy and proposed him to immediately enter into negotiations with Russia. He then accepted the offer. We organised three rounds of negotiations here, in Belarus. And now these negotiations are continuing via videoconference."
"That is, we are not attacking Ukraine, we are not bombing Ukraine. We are supporters of negotiations," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
The President of Belarus also noted that Russia proposes Ukraine an absolutely acceptable agreement which the Ukrainian side should sign. According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, a ceasefire in Ukraine is possible as soon as this document is initialled.
