BREST, 23 June (BelTA) - Belarus will do everything for peace in the region, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a ceremony to lay wreaths in the Brest Fortress on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War on 22 June, BelTA has learned.
During the speech, the head of state touched on NATO's activities, noting that Belarus should not be lulled by stories about their exercises being defensive and the alliance being a peace-loving organization. “We have had enough of this since 1941. We believed them and did not learn our lessons by giving them Eastern Europe (the so-called Warsaw Pact countries) in exchange for their promises to never take a step in our direction and to never expand NATO eastward. They are liars as minimum and rascals as maximum. They lied and cheated but today you won't succeed," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The president stressed that Belarusians will do everything to protect their land and peace in the region. “Our sons, who stand here under the flags of the winners, will do everything to ensure that you live a peaceful life on your land. You - Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians, Poles, Jews, Tatars. Everyone who lives here on this land. This is your land. You will not feel home anywhere else and do not believe their promises that you will be accepted there with open arms. Belarusians, this is your land, take care of it, appreciate it. Because it doesn't belong just to us. It belongs to our children and grandchildren," the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the region, like 80 years ago, is on the verge of a large conflict. "I appeal, first of all and once again, to the peoples of our neighboring countries - Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians. Wake up before it's too late. Bring to sense these politicians, who have gone mad losing touch with reality. Look what a beautiful world it is. We always lived peacefully with each other, in a neighborly way, shared a piece of bread, visited each other. Let's stop at this last line: tomorrow it will be too late," the Belarusian leader urged.
"Are there anyone from among Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Poles, to whom Belarusians have always had a warm regard, who are ready to sacrifice their peaceful life for the sake of madness and ambitions of individual leaders of these states, politicians who really do not care about the Belarusian people or their peoples, their future and the Belarusian statehood?" the president asked a rhetorical question.
