Posted: 03.07.2022 00:17:00

Lukashenko about visa-free travel for neighbours

Belarus has a humane attitude towards its neighbours – as stated by Aleksandr Lukashenko during his speech at a solemn meeting in the Palace of the Republic

Speaking about how ordinary people live in Europe nowadays, the President noted, “These poor Europeans, who are more accustomed to a comfortable life than we are, have no one to protect them. Therefore, we, including me on your behalf, are often telling them: let’s live together! If you want to come to us for salt, you’re welcome, the border is open, there’re no COVID restrictions, no visa is needed... If you want to refuel a car with fuel, which is three times cheaper here, you can do it.”

Commenting on how the politicians of the neighbouring countries behaved after Belarus introduced a visa-free regime for their citizens, the President noted indignantly, “These vile Lithuanian politicians do not let their people come to us so that they can buy the most essential things. These are ordinary people.”

The Belarusian leader also commented on why the visa-free decision was made, “It was adopted because visitors to Belarus were mostly our neighbours. Who are these people? Do you think there are no people with Belarusian roots there? There are plenty of them. These are our people. Lithuanians, Latvians, Poles have their relatives buried here [in Belarus]. We treat them as human beings. They come home and say: ‘Our politicians are lying. Belarusian people are normal, their country is normal and safe’. They [Western politicians] do not need it and started to hamper travel here for their own people. What kind of policy is this?”

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that the West itself taught us to ensure rights and freedoms and asked a logical question, “So where are these rights? Where are these freedoms? I have been telling you about this since the first day of my presidency, and after all, many in Belarus did not believe this, everyone wanted to live like in the West...”