MINSK, 2 December (BelTA) – Ukraine is under external control, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, Director General of the Russian state news agency MIA Rossiya Segodnya, BelTA has learned.
According to the head of state, various initiatives, including Aleksandr Lukashenko's, to settle the conflict in Ukraine were constantly torpedoed by the Ukrainian authorities. “The question arises: why? Because they did not run their country back then, and they have even less power now. The country is under external control. But it was not my decision to get involved, it was the request of the leader of Ukraine and the president of Russia, because I was familiar with the situation. What is going on in Ukraine today… Back then I realized that tensions would run high in Minsk,” the president said.
The Belarusian head of state also answered a question who he would side with in the event of Ukraine's aggression against Russia.
“In this situation and with such a policy, I will never be on Ukraine's side. I will be with those who want to save Ukraine and prevent it from turning into a hotbed of aggression against fraternal Russia and even more fraternal Belarus. Therefore, I will never support the nationalist frenzy that overwhelmed Ukraine,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
He assured that he would do everything to ‘make Ukraine ours'. “It is our Ukraine. Our people are there. These are not emotions. These are my firm convictions,” the president said.
“Therefore, if Russia faces aggression from Ukraine, we will stand by Russia legally, economically, politically. The legal aspect is the main thing,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
