MINSK, 2 July (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko explained why he asked President Putin for nuclear-capable missiles as he addressed a meeting in the run-up to Independence Day in Minsk on 2 July, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that it was not he who made the decision to renounce nuclear weapons. On the contrary, he, as the new leader of a young sovereign state, was forced to implement the decision made by the previous leadership of the country. He said he was under strong pressure to ensure that nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus.
The topic of nuclear-capable weapons re-emerged in the negotiations between Belarus and Russia at the initiative of the Belarusian side. "This is not nuclear blackmail. The Russian president and I are not going to blackmail anyone, especially with nuclear weapons," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
"This thesis and this topic in the negotiations with the Russia president emerged after Poland asked the United States to deploy nuclear weapons in their territory. Then I said to President Putin: ‘why do we pretend that nothing is happening?' We consulted for a long time and came to the conclusion that we should be ready to mirror their actions within a day. To do this, we need to prepare, which we will. We do not threaten anyone, we do not blackmail anyone. We took our weapons there [to Russia] and I have the right to ask and demand from the president of fraternal Russia to make everything possible to emsure they do not dare to cross the state border of the Republic of Belarus. Which I did," the Belarusian leader stated.
