Alexander Lukashenko, the controversial president of Belarus and faithful ally of Moscow, defended the Russian invasion of Ukraine in an interview with the US agency AP. But he regretted that the conflict, which began on February 24, has lasted so long.
The president spoke out against the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, although he did not comment on whether he knows if Vladimir Putin plans to do so. In any case, Lukashenko justified the war in ukraine because, he said, kyiv was “provoking Russia.”
“I am not immersed enough in this problem to say if it is going according to plan, as the Russians say. (However) I want to emphasize once again: I feel like this operation has dragged on,” he noted.
Lukashenko’s support for the war has drawn international criticism and sanctions against Minsk. Some Russian troops were sent to Ukraine from Belarusian territory, and Lukashenko has publicly backed his former ally, which has injected billions of dollars to prop up Belarus’s economy with cheap energy and loans.
But in his comments the president specified that he and his country stand for peace and repeatedly called for an end to the “war,” a term the Kremlin refuses to use, instead using “special military operation.”
The 67-year-old president struck a calmer, more measured tone in the nearly 90-minute interview than in previous media appearances, in which he bullied the West over sanctions and lashed out at journalists. The conversation with AP it was a rare opening display by Lukashenko.
“We categorically do not accept any war. We have done and are doing everything now so that there is no war. Thanks to yours truly, that is, to me, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have begun”, he specified.
Lukashenko said using nuclear weapons in Ukraine was “unacceptable because it is right next to us, we are not across the ocean like the United States.”
“It’s also unacceptable because it could send our terrestrial ball flying out of orbit to who knows where,” he said. “Whether or not Russia is capable of that is a question you need to ask Russian leaders.”
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Russia “by definition cannot lose this war,” Lukashenko said, noting that Belarus is the only country supporting Moscow, while “as many as 50 states have joined forces” on Ukraine’s side. And he added that Putin does not seek a direct conflict with NATO and that the West should ensure that it does not happen.
“Most likely, he does not want a global confrontation with NATO. Otherwise, even if Putin doesn’t want it, the military will react,” the Belarusian leader warned. Lukashenko called Putin his “older brother” and said the Russian leader does not have “closer, more open or more friendly relations with any of the world leaders other than the president of Belarus.”
Lukashenko was careful to point out that his country poses no danger to others, even as his army held exercises this week.
“We are not threatening anyone and we are not going to threaten anyone. We won’t. Also, we cannot threaten, we know who opposes us, so unleashing some kind of conflict, some kind of war here… is absolutely not in the interest of the Belarusian state. So that the West can sleep in peace,” he said.
