MINSK, 1 July (BelTA) - Sanctions against Belarus are unscrupulous attempts to eliminate competitors and take hold of resources, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at the plenary session of the 8th Forum of Regions of Belarus and Russia on 1 July, BelTA has learned.
The head of state noted the rising tensions in the international arena where destructive tendencies have prevailed so far. In particular, the pandemic has become a serious test of strength and the number one problem. "Under these conditions, Russia and Belarus are doing their best to stop it. We see that it is too early to let our guards down. However, I am sure that we will cope with it by our joint efforts," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
He once again thanked the Russian president for his support in the fight against the spread of coronavirus infection. Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that Belarus was the first country that Russia supply the vaccine. Moreover, Belarus has been given the technology of vaccine production. "Once again, Vladimir Vladimirovich, on behalf of the Belarusian people, I publicly thank you not only for delivering the specified volumes of the vaccine on time but also for sharing the production technology with us. We are successfully working, producing more than half a million doses a month," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Speaking about the current geopolitical challenges, the Belarusian leader noted the leaders of the Western countries have chosen to rely on force: they openly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states, constantly change the rules of the game, ignoring the basic agreements.
"We see the efforts of the Russian leadership to maintain the delicate balance of power on the planet. Unfortunately, the collective West, Washington and Brussels do not always want to hear constructive proposals. Our opponents are slowing down all sensible, positive initiatives and provoking new crises. In fact, the security architecture created after the Second World War, for the victory in which we paid about 30 million lives of Soviet people, is being deliberately destroyed," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
"First, the former allies have raised a generation who believes that the war was started by Stalin and was won by the United States and England. Now they are rewriting the history and trying to rehabilitate Nazism," he said.
Some post-Soviet countries have already experienced this in full extent. But they failed to implement such a scenario in Belarus, the president said.
"This is why we are being subjected to the undisguised economic and political pressure. They would probably have not needed it now should they won the blitzkrieg they launched last August. But something went wrong for them," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. "It is clear that all the sanctions are simply the unscrupulous attempts to eliminate economic competitors and take hold of human and material resources in our states. The West has set out to hamper development, disrupt integration projects and change the policy of Belarus (and not only our country). Therefore, strengthening the unity and increasing cooperation are of particular importance."
The head of state thanked the Russian president and all Russians for their support to Belarus in its fight to preserve the sovereignty and independence. "This is very important and valuable for us, because we see how the state sovereignty of our southern neighbor is melting away," the Belarusian leader said. “People are suffering from it. We will allow the fraternal ties between peoples to break.”
