“God Told Me Not Everyone Will Love You”: Lukashenko Explains Hoe He Takes Western Criticism

MINSK, April 20, 2026 — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has offered a rare glimpse into his personal philosophy on criticism, admitting he never expected universal affection and remains unfazed by those who call him a dictator.

In his ongoing interview with RT, the president told state news agency BELTA that he is, above all, a pragmatist. “The Lord prompted me to see the situation as it really is,” he said. “And He has always reminded me that not everyone will love you. If you are a radical person — even in the fight for justice or any other positive cause — then many people may not like you. I was prepared for that.”

Lukashenko made clear he has never sought blanket adoration. “I was far from it before, and even more so now. I am not an emperor like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin. They can afford to ponder whether people love them. I do not have their resources, and that is why I have this calm attitude toward love — especially after so many years in the presidency.”

He recalled a telling conversation long ago with Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin. “He asked me, ‘What’s happened to you? Why the bad mood?’ I had been reading the opposition press — including Western outlets — and it was full of filth. The worst part was that none of it was true. I told him so. He laughed and said, ‘Are you still reading that stuff?’ That moment stayed with me forever.”

Even today, Lukashenko reads widely and still reacts sharply — but only to injustice. “If someone writes about something unfair, especially on social media, we check it. But in 99 percent of cases, it’s simply not true,” he noted.

As for the long-standing Western habit of branding him a dictator, he remains philosophical. “I’m an experienced man. I read the filth they pour on me — ‘dictator’ and so on — and I treat it calmly. When they started calling me ‘the last dictator of Europe,’ I responded with a joke: ‘Well then, hurry up, because I am the last dictator of Europe.’”

He pointed out that true dictatorship requires resources he simply does not possess. “Trump has that resource, and he dictates — in Venezuela, in Cuba, he tries in Iran, in China, to everyone. If you don’t have that resource, don’t even try to dictate,” Lukashenko said. “Dictatorship always leads to defeat, to collapse — as happened with you in Iran,” he told RT host Rick Sanchez. “Not total collapse, perhaps, but something close to defeat.”