Alexander Lukashenko visits Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Logoisk

Everyone knows this Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Logoisk. The church itself was built in the middle of the 19th century, but about a century ago the believers lost their home, and only during the Great Patriotic War the church was revived. The prayers for a speedy victory and liberation of Belarus sounded at that time.

According to tradition, every year for many years now Alexander Lukashenko lights a Christmas candle in different churches. This is, of course, a reason for communication, an opportunity to have a rather intimate conversation.

"Easter, New Year, Victory Day, the holy holiday of Christmas. These are the holidays that our difficult history could not erase from our memory. I am sure that these holidays will be in our hearts forever," the President said.

"The coming 2025 will be a difficult year. Not only because, together with Russia, they began to put pressure on us and strangle us from all sides. So far, the tactics and strategy that we have defined help us not only to stay afloat, but also to live with dignity," the President said.

"Let's say this frankly, that everyone live the way they want. This is what I can already say calmly today. Because if you want to live better, such conditions have been created in our state. If you want better, the Lord has always hinted at this, you just need to work harder. If you don't work, you will never live better or even well," the Belarusian leader noted.

"Therefore, we will overcome all the difficulties and hardships of the coming year. They are related not only to the pressure from outside on our state. This year will be difficult also because our friends and neighbors with whom we trade (and trade is the basis of life of any state) are in a difficult situation. You see it. If things were normal for them, we would be doing very well. Therefore, the coming new year will not be easy. It will be hard. But we will overcome it," Alexander Lukashenko is confident.

He emphasized that various difficulties in the country have been overcome more than once, including the pandemic, sanctions. "But when we are united, when we are together, when we at least look in the same direction, then everything will be fine with us," the President said. - We will overcome all the difficulties and hardships. We have learned to overcome them, we know how to overcome them. But we can only do this together."

"I wanted to warn you that we have enough problems inside. And challenges appear constantly. You could say every month. The latest challenge, you probably haven't noticed it yet, well, thank God, is the forced migration of people. People fleeing from war," said the Head of State. "But I am already being informed that people from the East are starting to arrive. Not only those who wish us some kind of hostility and war."

Belarus, as a country at the crossroads from West to East, has never been on the sidelines. Moreover, while there were relatively good relations with neighbors (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia), official Minsk took on the obligation to contain the flow of people. And logically, it stopped doing so under pressure.

"We will not protect them from migrants. Especially those who impose economic sanctions against us. Why should we protect them?" - added Alexander Lukashenko.

He also mentioned that Zelensky had recently shouted: "Long live Belarus!" "Well, long live. Naturally, long live. He said that hoping that soon everyone in Belarus would be chanting these slogans. It was as if he was hinting that soon we would be like Ukraine. That's what I thought when I heard him. And I think: "God forbid," said Alexander Lukashenko.

According to the Head of State, the main challenge is the economy. "We will stick together, we will strive to make life better, we will overcome these challenges," said the Belarusian leader.

He also emphasized the importance of maintaining peace: "The main thing for us is to have peaceful life. And here this is my task everything will be done to maintain peace in Belarus. If there is peace, we will buy everything else. We will live, maybe not wealthy, but with dignity. Like we live now. We don’t ask anyone for anything. We live on the money, resources and opportunities that we have in Belarus. Therefore, the main thing for us is to preserve peace. If there is no peace, nothing is needed.”

As an example of what happens if there is no peace, Alexander Lukashenko cited the situation in Ukraine, where thousands of people are dying. “Do we need this? We don’t need this. Therefore, we will do everything to preserve peace,” the Belarusian leader assured.