MINSK, 9 August (BelTA) - Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko warned Ukraine against possible attempts to resolve the crisis in Donbass by force as he spoke at the big press conference in Minsk on 9 August, BelTA has learned.
"If you dare to do this with the support of third countries, I will never be on your side. If you lock horns with Russia again in Donbass, I will be between you. This is a position I have long taken. Even if it would be life-threatening. But I'm sure neither the first option nor the second one is feasible. It won't happen. Because there are enough reasonable people in Ukraine. However strong the Ukrainian army is, any attempt to resolve the crisis by force will end in tragedy for Ukraine," the head of state said.
"I beg you to not even consider this option," he stressed.
The Belarusian president noted that any war ends in peace and at the negotiating table. "You have to start somewhere," he continued. “You may say that Zelensky has offered this or that to Putin so many times. Volodymyr talks a lot. He's just an inexperienced person."
Aleksandr Lukashenko knows that the Russian president is not against negotiations. “Putin is not against them. We talk about Ukraine every time we meet. He is ready for them,” the Belarusian leader said. “The parties need to get ready before sitting down at the negotiating table. This period of preparations is not long because the issues which need to be resolved are pressing. There is no need to wait for a year or a year and a half like they wait for six months until they are received in the White House. But you do not need to make steps that take you away from these negotiations.”
The president cited the law on the indigenous peoples that Ukraine has recently signed. “Was this law much needed today? No. Based on my experience, I would advise to pass it after the talks with Putin. Why are you taking steps in the opposite direction, saying one thing and doing another?” the president wondered.
Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that the parties need to talk and come to an agreement, and Ukraine needs to separate the Donbass and Crimea issues. “Let's separate Donbass and Crimea. These are two different stories,” he said.
Speaking about Donbass, the Belarusian president said that Zelensky as the head of state should have solved this issue. “Some may think this way, others may think the other way. However, once Donbass is back in Ukraine, everyone will share the same opinion: you returned the territory, you saved people. The talks are necessary for the sake of this fertile land,” he said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also recalled how the talks on the Minsk agreements progressed. On that day, the representatives of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR came to Minsk. “Before the signing of the final agreement Putin invited the representatives of the LPR and DPR (my security service brought them). And Poroshenko knew that they were present,” the head of state said. “And then Putin said: guys, I am ready to sign it, but I will not do it until the representatives [of the self-proclaimed republics] confirm. And Poroshenko agreed. If he could not stand the separatists, he should have refused to sign anything.”
“But you have signed it. Had Poroshenko refused and flown away, there would have been no Minsk agreements,” the president added.
Volodymyr Zelensky should keep his election promises, the Belarusian leader is convinced. “He had promised a lot: that he would stop war and so on. Then do or die. Take a helicopter, go to Donetsk, Lugansk,” he said. “Had Volodya Zelensky done that, Ukraine, Donbass and Lugansk would have applauded. And by doing that he would have put me and the Russian president in a position where we would have had only one option – to take a step to meet halfway. That wold have been huge. But it seems to me that you are not allowed and will not be allowed to do it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko believes.
He also spoke in favor of local election in Donbass.
