MINSK, 8 January (BelTA) - In the latest episode of the documentary series Time Chose Us aired by the Belarus 1 TV channel Press Secretary of the President of Belarus Natalya Eismont revealed how many requests for interviews Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko received from the international media in 2015, BelTA reports.
“The global situation and the situation around us, a very acute conflict in south-east Ukraine, the Normandy Format talks in Minsk and the upcoming presidential election in Belarus sparked an interest in the Belarusian agenda among all international media. There were a lot of requests to talk to the president. I cannot recall their exact number, but there were hundreds of them,” Natalya Eismont said.
The press secretary pointed out that if every request were met, which was impossible, the president's schedule would have included only interviews.
“One of the most high-profile interviews of 2015 that I remember very well was with the largest American news agency Bloomberg. It took place in late March, almost a month after the landmark Normandy Format talks in the Palace of Independence in Minsk,” she emphasized. “The journalist who visited us was mostly interested in the details and the president's assessment of the talks.”
The spokeswoman stressed that the head of state spoke very openly and there was no self-complacency in the conversation. “He mentioned that there was a probability that this situation was just calm before the storm. He said that despite the Minsk agreements, peace in Ukraine was still a long way off. Probably the most significant point the head of state mentioned was that the United States played a decisive role in all these processes and if it wanted peace in Ukraine, it would come. And vice versa: if the United States did not want it, there would be no peace,” she added.
Natalya Eismont stated that in 2015, like today, the president spoke about the need for negotiations. “He said these things publicly, openly and purposefully, in order to be heard. But the powers that be pretended that they did not hear him. As we can see, they did not want to. It was a very important conversation, a very important interview. But, certainly, it was not the only one of this scale,” the press secretary of the Belarusian leader concluded.
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