MINSK, 18 October (BelTA) – Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko has met with the Russian philosopher and public figure Aleksandr Dugin, BelTA has learned.
The conversation lasted for over two hours.
The head of state welcomed Aleksandr Dugin in Belarus. Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “I was primarily interested in getting you to see Belarus with your own eyes. Minsk is certainly not entire Belarus just like Moscow is not all of Russia. Nevertheless, you are an experienced man and can take a look at Minsk in order to determine how Belarus lives. Your Belarus. I hope you don't separate it in your mind and don't consider it a foreign country. Despite the fact that nowadays it is an independent and sovereign state.”
“Certainly,” Aleksandr Dugin agreed.
The Belarusian leader went on saying: “After all what they say in Russia about Belarus and what they don't say, what they keep silent about… It is probably no big secret for you. Since you can see the real picture behind numbers, lines, and commas. But people didn't really well understand what is going on in Belarus, particularly in the past. We were sometimes criticized for no reason. I understand that there is (there was) some envy, something else. There were various reasons. This is why a person of your caliber, a public person who sees the reality… I hope that not only every Russian-person but every Russian citizen will learn about it [about what Belarus thinks and how it lives]. I am greatly interested in it. Because we have to live together. We should not run away from each other no matter what.”
Aleksandr Dugin thanked Aleksandr Lukashenko for the invitation to visit Belarus. He remarked he has admired both Belarus and Aleksandr Lukashenko's policy for a long time. The philosopher said: “You did not allow your state to be plundered. You did not make the mistakes that, alas, we made in the 1990s and that we are correcting with such pains today. I sincerely admire your authority, your courage, your steadfastness in saving the Belarusian people, the Belarusian statehood .Which means ourselves. Which means our unity, our Union State. And today we stand back to back like you said. All the other ones are either neutral or oppose us. And here we stand to protect our Slavonic, Russian, Belarusian idea together.”
Apart from that, Aleksandr Dugin thanked Aleksandr Lukashenko for condolences over the recent demise of his daughter: “I am very grateful to you, my wife is grateful to you for the words of sincere condolence over the death of our daughter at the hands of Ukrainian terrorists. As you can see, the front line is not only in Ukraine. It is also in Russia, in our hearts, in families. It is an irreplaceable loss for us. We are very grateful to you for sincere and heartfelt words.”
