KAZAN, 23 October (BelTA) – The first step towards the settlement between Russia and Ukraine is negotiations, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview with BBC journalist Steve Rosenberg on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on 23 October, BelTA has learned.
"Should the West be willing, peace may be established. You may ask what needs to be done for that. A lot of work, but the first step should be negotiations," Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. "It is necessary to sit down at the table, draw up a plan of action and start negotiations."
The head of state added that there is no point figuring out who is responsible for what happened. Otherwise, according to the Belarusian leader, the parties will never come to peace. "When discussing this issue with representatives of the West, intelligent people, we came to a common view: if a war, conflict or fight break out, it is the fault of both sides, to a greater or lesser extent," the president said.
"When the conflict begun, I had a conversation with Volodya Zelensky. He said the same as you did: they attacked us and so on. I said: ‘Vladimir, the war is happening on your land, on your territory. Right?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Thus you must be the most interested person in resolving this conflict’. In order to understand who initiated the conflict, let's look at the reasons behind it. Everybody holds Russia responsible, don't they? I will tell you one thing. It is an emotional but important: at one time, several dozen people were burned down alive in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa. For what? Donbas and its Russian-speaking population was shelled and bombed. Why were these people persecuted? Why the attempts to erase the Russian language and so on ? A chain of events and the calls on Putin to protect the people. So he did," Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
"Should the West be willing, peace may be established. You may ask what needs to be done for that. A lot of work, but the first step should be negotiations," Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. "It is necessary to sit down at the table, draw up a plan of action and start negotiations."
The head of state added that there is no point figuring out who is responsible for what happened. Otherwise, according to the Belarusian leader, the parties will never come to peace. "When discussing this issue with representatives of the West, intelligent people, we came to a common view: if a war, conflict or fight break out, it is the fault of both sides, to a greater or lesser extent," the president said.
"When the conflict begun, I had a conversation with Volodya Zelensky. He said the same as you did: they attacked us and so on. I said: ‘Vladimir, the war is happening on your land, on your territory. Right?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Thus you must be the most interested person in resolving this conflict’. In order to understand who initiated the conflict, let's look at the reasons behind it. Everybody holds Russia responsible, don't they? I will tell you one thing. It is an emotional but important: at one time, several dozen people were burned down alive in the House of Trade Unions in Odessa. For what? Donbas and its Russian-speaking population was shelled and bombed. Why were these people persecuted? Why the attempts to erase the Russian language and so on ? A chain of events and the calls on Putin to protect the people. So he did," Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
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