Today, during his visit to Babruisk (Mogilev region), Lukashenka once again made a series of populist statements that hardly correlate with the real state of affairs. Let’s try to analyze his today’s speech.
- Lukashenka: “Putin has never asked me: come on, go in, kill someone in Ukraine and so on. But they [the West] are pushing us into this conflict to deal with both Russia and Belarus and to build the front – a line from St. Petersburg to Rostov. So that there is no Belarusian ‘balcony’, as they call it. It didn’t work in 2020. They continue to do it using other methods. The main thing for me is not to get too deep into this Ukrainian conflict, but to make it end as quickly as possible.”
We don’t know who is pushing him and where to. But according to publicly available information, everything is exactly the opposite. See:
22.02.2022. The U.S. President Joe Biden said, «If Russia does not withdraw its troops from Belarus, the U.S. troops and equipment will also move to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia»;
26.02.2022. The French President Emmanuel Macron addressed Lukashenka with a request to withdraw Russian troops from Belarus as soon as possible;
23.03.2022. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged Belarus to stop helping Russia in its war against Ukraine.
And there is no ‘Belarusian balcony’ anymore. Not by the efforts of the West, but by the actions of Lukashenka, who himself allowed the Russian Armed Forces to stay on the territory of Belarus after the end of the exercise «Union Resolve –2022».
- Lukashenka: «The more we have, the stronger our weapons are, the calmer it will be for us. They will understand that if they [the Armed Forces of Ukraine] hit Mazyr, we will hit Kyiv without going into Ukraine. They should understand that. But in order to strike, you need to have something to strike with. We have it.»
But since the beginning of the war, missiles against Ukraine, including Kyiv, have been launched from the territory of Belarus. Lukashenka should not threaten and draw attention to himself, but thank Ukraine for not striking Belarus in response to at least 631 missile launches against Ukraine. By the way, a large number of missiles were launched from the territory of the Mazyr district.
- Lukashenka: «What is happening in Ukraine is just the beginning. One of the elements of a large reshaping of the world. So how events will unfold… It’s a tough case. They will break, chop. And, you know, small and medium states will be the first to crack. Such as us, the Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland. They will not go anywhere. They will also be chopped. The world will be different.”
The Czech Republic, Austria… And he doesn’t want to look at the state of the Belarusian economy? The leaders of the industry: Belaruskali, Naftan, Neman tobacco factory, and even his beloved Belteleradio company are under sanctions. In January-May 2022, Belarus’ GDP dropped by 3,4% compared to the same period last year. Literally hundreds of Western companies have left Belarus. Belavia no longer flies to dozens of countries, etc. As for the rest, the world will be really different, without those like Lukashenka and Putin.
- Lukashenka: «Why did Ukrainians refuse to talk to Russians? We started this dialogue, I was involved in it, brought them here by the collar, so to speak. They left. Why? Americans said: no, there will be no negotiations.»
First, negotiating on the territory of Belarus (= on the territory of the aggressor) is not the best idea. And second:
04.03.2022. Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate with Russia on Crimea and Donbas;
23.04.2022. Zelenskyy said, «Ukraine is ready to negotiate with Russia in order to save the lives of millions of people»;
14.06.2022. Zelenskyy is ready to talk to Putin about ending the war at any moment.
Ukraine and Ukrainians should understand that you can’t deal with this person, he is a liar, who will always pretend to be a «good guy» while holding a knife behind his back.
