MINSK, 28 October (BelTA) – Belarus and Russia harbor no aggressive intentions toward European countries, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the 3rd Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security on 28 October, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko has categorically denied persistent allegations that Belarus and Russia plan military aggression against Poland or/and the Baltic states, or an imminent attack along the Suwalki Gap. “I have heard this for as long as I have been president. It’s complete nonsense. We need to sort out our own problems. We are not claiming anything; we don’t need European capitals, be it Paris or London. We don’t even need Lithuania and Poland with their capitals, Vilnius and Warsaw. We have no interest in them. We don’t need this escalation.”
In this regard, he questioned the significant military expenditures of neighboring countries. “Why do the Poles spend up to 5% of their GDP on weapons? And why is Lithuania increasing its already meager budget for armaments (we know the internal dynamics there)?”
The president suggested an answer, noting: “They are probably preparing for this themselves. I am speaking frankly about it – I have said this to the president of Russia and other leaders of allied nations.”
“We prepare for war every day so that it doesn’t happen. Yet, if Poland and the Baltic states want to engage with us in good faith... Not because three balloons or drones (they turned out to be Ukrainian) flew into their territory. We had warned the Poles about them. We were unable to destroy all of them; we did not have enough time and it’s a difficult thing to do. But we had notified them. They struck their own residential buildings with their missile. They first blamed Russia and us and then (thanks to Americans), they admitted it wasn’t a Russian missile. They saw it wasn’t Russian,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
He stated that this is how tensions are being escalated. “And the question always arises: why are you doing this, why are you escalating the situation? I answered that question,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.
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