22 November 2024, 15:25

Lukashenko shares his fear as president

MINSK, 22 November (BelTA) – There should be no cult of the leader in Belarus, and there is no and cannot be any dictatorship here, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a Q&A session titled “Open Microphone with the President” that was held at Minsk State Linguistic University on 22 November, BelTA has learned.

One of the students studying Chinese asked what the president thinks about publishing a manual for translation/interpretation students based on the texts of his speeches - a kind of quotation book.

“If you translate it into Chinese, I will support it, of course. If it is necessary, we will do it. It is not a problem,” the head of state replied.

At the same time, he emphasized that these do not necessarily have to be his speeches and quotes. “There should be no cult of the leader. This is what I have been afraid of my entire presidential life. There is no dictatorship in the country and there cannot be any. Indeed, in order to be a dictator, you need to have all the levers in your hands. And what levers do I have? The Americans started calling me a dictator! How can I dictate America? Today, Trump, Biden and others cannot dictate although they account for more than 30% of the world's GDP. And how can I dictate? Do we have the strongest economy? No, we don't,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

“There is no dictatorship, and I do not need it,” the Belarusian leader emphasized once again.

In this regard, he recalled his principled stance on the intelligentsia: “When I became president, I saw how most of our intelligentsia behaved: they would suck up to someone in order to get something. I was a deputy of the Supreme Council back then, I saw all this. And when I became president, I said that it had to stop, that the intelligentsia should not be humiliated any more. This has been my stance on the intelligentsia ever since. I don't try to court anyone. If I see that something is wrong, I say it bluntly. If necessary, I will consult with someone. But do not humiliate the intelligentsia, forcing them to grovel and bow before you. In other words, there should be no cult of the leader.”