MINSK, 20 February (BelTA) – Fears of a possible third world war are justified, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a large meeting with the senior staff of the national security agencies in Minsk on 20 February, BelTA has learned.
“There is no country and nation who could feel absolutely safe for the last dozen years. Military force has once again become the main argument of the world centers for solving issues. As if there were no million losses and horrors of the First and Second World Wars. Now we are literally covered with an information wave of the so-called premonition of the third world war. There are grounds for concern,” the Belarusian leader said.
He drew attention to the growing trend in the number of hotspots. Last year alone, more than 25 military conflicts were launched or continued in different regions on different continents, and almost each one was used as an excuse to introduce a peacekeeping contingent. “You know what this is done for. To deploy people with weapons, to mark their zone of influence. That means the world is turning into a testing ground for global confrontation,” the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko continued: “You see what is happening in the Middle East. There are already open threats to use nuclear weapons. Entire cities are being wiped off the face of the earth along with their peaceful inhabitants. It turns out that it is possible to do so without getting under sanctions, without becoming an outcast in the eyes of the so-called civilized society, carriers of ‘true’ democratic values.”
The situation on the European continent, including near the borders of Belarus, is not calmer either. About 32,000 troops of the joint NATO and U.S. armed forces are deployed in the immediate vicinity of Belarus and Russia as part of the Alliance's operations in Europe. This is more than 1,000 units of armored vehicles, about 160 artillery systems and mortars, 235 planes and helicopters. “All this at least is a demonstration of force,” the president said.
