MINSK, 23 October (BelTA) – In an interview with the Kazakh national television news agency Khabar Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko talked about the factor of the individual in history and state development, BelTA has learned.
The Belarusian head of state was asked for an opinion on the matter considering the grassroots belief that stability in Kazakhstan has a lot to do with Nursultan Nazarbayev while stability in Belarus owes a lot to Aleksandr Lukashenko, who is also referred to as the Father.
The president said: “You have to look at it from a special angle… Certainly, our government system is partially authoritarian, there is no need to hide this fact. Both Nursultan Nazarbayev in his time and I… The power is great but you bear all the responsibility, too. On the one hand, we were lucky. On the other hand, we had to work hard to accomplish it. We were lucky because we created our countries in a peaceful and calm manner. You are sovereign and independent Kazakhstan while Belarus is sovereign and independent as well. And we – he there, me here – were the leaders. Certainly, a lot is shifted onto the leaders.”
The president pointed out that the sovereign countries and stability in both cases had been created not only thanks to efforts of individual leaders but also thanks to efforts of many other people. “You [Khabar Chairman of the Board Yerlan Bekkhozhin was the interviewer] did it working as a reporter, as the head of a leading mass media company. And mass media did a lot in that period. You had to explain things to people. You had to motivate people. I have to confess you had to propagandize and lead people. Together we did it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
“This is why the role of the individual in history is important. What has been accomplished in Kazakhstan owes a lot to Nursultan Nazarbayev. I say it sincerely. Not because you've asked this question. He has done a great deal,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
