MINSK, 25 January (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made a few comments about the alleged inevitability of a war during a meeting with representatives of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus on 25 January, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that there has been a lot of talk lately about the alleged inevitability of a war, which is likely to alarm a lot of people.
“I'd like you to understand me not only as the president but also a person, who is responsible for the Armed Forces. Neither I nor any of our generals and military chiefs would want any little war,” he stressed.
However, it does not mean that Belarusians should do nothing. Even more so when they have the example of the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 in front of their eyes. Elderly Belarusians remember it well. Back then, during the first few days of the war the Nazi rapidly advanced across Belarus' territory. “Virtually within several days. They bombed Minsk and Belarus was brought to its knees. We always talk about heroism but we forget about the mistakes, which were committed,” the head of state noted.
The military fortification Stalin's Line, which was not used at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, is another example. “Vehicles of the fascists would have been unable to advance along this main road into Minsk because every meter was zeroed in. How many shots were fired in that position of Stalin's Line? Zero,” the Belarusian leader reminded.
“We became self-complacent, everything was good. Now we say we wanted to delay things, we wanted to prepare properly for the war. It is likely we'd never been ready for something. But we should have stayed on alert. I think we must not repeat those mistakes. And we have to demonstrate it so that we could be understood or probably feared,” the Belarusian leader stressed.
In his words, an example of how resolutely Belarus is ready to act was demonstrated during the presidential election campaign and after it in 2020. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I had to redeploy half the army to the west [of Belarus]. What we saw domestically was really bad. If we had not suppressed their desired course of action, the situation could have developed differently,” the president pointed out.
Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “We should be ready for any sequence of events. You have to understand that we are not the problem. Just like we weren't during the French invasion of Russia in 1812, during World War One, and during the Great Patriotic War… Roughly speaking, nobody needs us. You know what they need.”
