MINSK, 8 October (BelTA) – NATO should be grateful for getting Ukraine without any effort. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the relevant statement during the Minsk Dialogue forum “European security: Stepping back from the brink” on 8 October, BelTA has learned.
The head of state reminded that the East and the West have been at odds with each other since the time of the Soviet Union, particularly in military affairs. This strife has led to events in Ukraine. “Today we've given away Ukraine to our adversaries as ‘a gift'. Haven't we? We've given away Ukraine with our own hands. Americans and NATO should thank us for it and they probably do just that while talking to each other,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the conflict in Ukraine can still be resolved because “the diagnosis is clear”. “It seems we know how to deal with this disease. We just have to start treating it. The current government in Ukraine, the president… He is certainly not omnipotent. Nobody will permit him to do what he wants both inside and outside. I now know he wants to resolve the problem,” the head of state remarked.
Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that ending the armed conflict in Ukraine's Donbass is not the key thing. “The key thing is what he [the president of Ukraine] has ‘inherited' from the point of view of economy and the society that has evolved there. There are so many dividing lines over there that the president alone cannot handle it. Even more so without the power that the presidents of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and so on wield,” the Belarusian leader stated.
The head of state is convinced that if the USA does not contribute to the resolution of this problem, even Europe will be unable to help Ukraine. Although the European Union may not be interested in it that much, the president remarked. “It is necessary to get together, talk, and adjust plans. And it is necessary to act. But it seems the ‘great ones' don't really want to,” he said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that after negotiations with Volodymyr Zelensky he saw that the Ukrainian government understands how to resolve the conflict in its country. “If Russia and the European Union – at least they initially, America may get involved – help resolve the conflict, help preserve the integrity and independence of Ukraine, this problem will be resolved,” the president stressed.
“If we lose albeit inexperienced and young Zelensky and this government in Ukraine – and it can definitely happen because resistance inside and outside Ukraine is too great – in return we will get a government it will be hard for us even to talk to,” the head of state concluded.
