MINSK, 17 November (BelTA) - Reality will force Poland and the Baltic states to build normal relations with Belarus and Russia, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Governor of Russia's Rostov Oblast Yury Slyusar on 17 November, BelTA has learned.
“The Lithuanians are now demanding to open the border. We never closed it. We have never been hostile towards the Poles, Lithuanians, or Latvians. They are our neighbors; it’s not like we can do anything about it. Yes, they are currently being managed from the outside,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “You know, reality will force them to... New leaders will eventually come to power who, like before, will see the strategic importance of Belarus and Russia. What was the point in losing those markets and such good relations?”
Speaking about decisions that have harmed Lithuania, the head of state cited the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant as an example. “When they scrapped the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant under the guise of a green economy, we warned them: ‘Don’t do it, you will need it’. But they closed it, destroyed it, and it was plundered. And they tried to interfere with our construction of this station [BelNPP],” the president emphasized.
The Belarusian leader further noted that during the construction of the nuclear power plant in Belarus, he had invited Lithuanian specialists who found themselves unneeded in their own country. “We were building it, and I invited Lithuanian specialists (they had a problem in Lithuania): ‘Come to our station, we will work together’. Especially since we were in need of personnel. They thought we couldn’t manage without them. We, together with the Russians, solved this problem. Around 3,000 people work at our plant, and we will need another 1,000 for the third power unit,” the president said.
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