Lukashenko replied whether Zelenskyy has peace plan

In an interview with VGTRK (All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company) journalist Olga Skabeeva, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko said he is convinced that now there is an opportunity for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, since a plan for a peaceful settlement, or the end of the war, or something else, can be developed only at the negotiating table

Photo: www.president.gov.by

“Look, there isn’t any plan. This plan is idle talk. It is necessary to understand that Russia is an empire. No one will ever bend it over and force it to sit down at the negotiating table on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s terms. I told him this a thousand times at the beginning of the war, starting from the fact that the war is on his land, that there is no need to shout, and that later we’ll figure out who is to blame. Both sides are to blame. Russia is to blame, but you are also to blame,” the President noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about his recent meeting with representatives of the West, during which he managed to convince them that both sides are to blame for the armed conflict, “In the end they told me that they agree that the two countries are to blame. This is tremendous progress. And before that, they blamed only Russia, along with Belarus. I gave them an example in Odessa, when dozens of our guys were burned down. I gave them an example when they banned the Russian language, when they denigrated Russians on the land that once belonged to Russia. I don’t really focus on this too much, but why were people killed, why were they forbidden to speak a language that was normally perceived by people? Why didn’t they go our way? And they said that ‘we don’t think in that way — it’s Russia’s fault and that’s all’.”

According to the Head of State, now it is time to sit down at the negotiating table, where a plan for a peaceful settlement or an end to the war will be elaborated.

“Has the situation changed today in what way? We used to say that peace would come when the Anglo-Saxons wanted it or America wanted it with those NATO members who support Ukraine? It is not quite like that anymore. These people understand that everything is falling apart, that Zelenskyy has balked. They cannot put too much pressure on Zelenskyy. We always say what is the point of pressing; just don’t supply weapons and don’t give money. And that is their face. The West cannot lose its face, not give weapons, not give money after fleeing Afghanistan. This will be the end. No one will believe them anymore. They don't want to lose face by not giving arms. They want Zelenskyy to agree to negotiate himself. And if the territories are to be ceded, then there must be a decision by Ukraine and them.”

The President of Belarus stressed that he is confident that ‘such a change in consciousness and a shift has already occurred: Westerners want Ukraine and Zelenskyy to sit down at the negotiating table with Putin and Russia more than Zelenskyy himself wants it’.