MINSK, 15 September (BelTA) – In an interview with the Russian magazine Razvedchik [Spy] Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko explained how his service as part of the border guard troops proceeded, BelTA has learned.
Certainly, due to the scope of the Razvedchik magazine the questions were expected to touch upon defense, security, and law enforcement agencies. The interview could not help by touch upon the matter of the military service. In an answer to the question the head of state talked about his experience as a border guard in detail.
“Just like all the Soviet kids I believed and believe the defense of the Motherland to be the duty of a true man,” he stressed. “I often say: what kind of man are you if you haven’t served in the army? It was an honor to join the army back when I was young. Soldiers invoked genuine respect in everyone.”
According to the president, the prestige of military service has been restored in Belarus. The prestige was nearly completely lost in the 1990s. Nowadays guys are eager to serve.
“The military service has tempered my character. I always recall it with warmth. I am grateful to the commanding officers, who have taught me a lot. I often think I wouldn’t be what I am today if I had not joined the border guard,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. He explained that as his mother’s only son and a pedagogue by education he was not subject to compulsory military service back then. But he still decided to join the army. “I was partially inspired by the example of my cousins and chose the border guard,” the head of state clarified. “Certainly, I was eager to go where things were complicated. I wanted to test the limit of my abilities, to show my worth, to benefit the Motherland. Our generation was raised that way.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko was sent to serve in the Brest border unit – the best one in the Soviet Union. And it was necessary to live up to the status 24/7. “We were drilled a lot,” he said. “The situation at the border is always intense and requires constant combat readiness. And only physically strong, morally stable, and responsible people can serve in these conditions.”
“I came up through the ranks to the position of an instructor of the political department of an army unit belonging to the Western Border Service District,” the president added. “I liked working with the personnel. After working in Komsomol bodies and as a lecturer in the Znanie Society I decided to continue serving as an officer in the 120th Rogachev Division named after the BSSR Supreme Council. As the second in command of a company I had to be able to inspire soldiers to master their military skills, to nurture the character of a warrior, of a true defender in everyone. The need to accomplish complicated tasks with limited resources honed the ability to discern the character of people, calculate their capabilities, to drop hints about their hidden reserves.”
According to the head of state, he is proud of having participated in the Zapad 1981 army exercise: “It was a serious exercise. When NATO countries saw it, they realized that they’d better not mess with us.”
“Through military service I learned a simple truth: any self-respecting independent country cannot exist and cannot develop without a well-equipped and professionally organized army. Today this experience helps me efficiently organize and reinforce the country’s national security system as the commander-in-chief,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
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