MINSK, 31 March (BelTA) – The West will not succeed in tearing Belarus away from Russia, therefore now the West is baring its teeth, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Penza Oblast Governor Oleg Melnichenko on 31 March, BelTA has learned.
Oleg Melnichenko said that the last time he visited Belarus was in August 2020. He coordinated observers from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly during the presidential election.
“You did not come across many violations, did you?” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked.
“I want to say that there were no such cases at all. We traveled all over the country. I moved around polling stations in Minsk all day long. We did not record any violations,” Oleg Melnichenko said.
The head of state noted that after 2020 Belarus went through a very important period: the country was preparing for a referendum to amend the Constitution. “We democratized it. We needed to move forward. You know, many in our society suggested not to hold this referendum after the events of 2020. I absolutely disagreed with such an idea, because we had promised to hold it. The referendum passed and you know such silence set in. Even the West calmed down: there was nothing it could say. And the results of the referendum were 1.5% percent better than those of the presidential election. The situation here is really calm,” the president said.
He added that the West tried to stage a Maidan in Belarus using the Ukrainian scenario, but nothing came of it. “They wanted to create dividing lines here and draw a red line for Russia. They didn't succeed. They are now walking around and baring their teeth because their plans failed and they need to come up with something else. Therefore, they are imposing sanctions against Russia and also against Belarus, so that Russia will not be able to circumvent the sanctions,” the head of state said.
