Lukashenko at EAEU Summit: Make AI a Force for Peace — Not a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Astana, 29 May 2026 — In a wide-ranging and characteristically blunt address at the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko placed artificial intelligence at the centre of the Eurasian Economic Union’s strategic agenda.

“The task of the EAEU is to make artificial intelligence peaceful and not allow it to be turned into a weapon of mass destruction,” he declared. “As with the atom in the past, our job is to ensure responsible use — those words in the union’s statement are not decorative; they are fundamental.”

The working visit to Kazakhstan began early in the morning with bilateral talks between Lukashenko and Cuba’s Vice-President Salvador Antonio Valdés Mesa, who represented Havana at the summit. Lukashenko offered unequivocal solidarity amid Cuba’s current difficulties.

“Dear friend, we are well aware of what is happening around your country,” he said. “You should know that you have many friends in the world — including Belarus. We are ready to do everything we are capable of and everything the current situation allows. What we have already agreed and contracted on, we will fulfil to the letter. If you have additional proposals, we will examine them immediately.”

The summit itself marked the 12th anniversary of the EAEU project, launched in Astana. Lukashenko praised the priorities set by Kazakhstan’s chairmanship — artificial intelligence, logistics, industrial and agricultural digitisation, the removal of trade barriers, and broader cooperation with third countries — noting that Belarus has thrown itself energetically into the new AI track.

Yet he warned that the union must not lose sight of its original goals: macroeconomic stability and higher living standards for citizens. While acknowledging solid growth in GDP, services exports and intra-union trade over the past five years, Lukashenko struck a note of impatience.

“The world is developing along a conflict scenario,” he said. “Events in the Middle East have already triggered shortages of fuel, critical materials and fertilisers. A huge avalanche of problems has been unleashed and we still do not know exactly where or how hard it will strike. But no matter what happens outside, we cannot slow the pace of work on the Treaty on the EAEU. We must put our own house in order.”

He was unsparing on unfinished business. Regulation of the common financial market, trade barriers, electronic digital signatures and other foundational issues have been repeatedly postponed.

“We talk about artificial intelligence while the most basic digital questions — such as digital signatures — are put off until later,” he remarked. “I am not reproaching anyone, but I insist: twelve years ago we agreed to move towards deep economic integration. Let us now deliver on every goal and every task — on time and in full.”

Lukashenko singled out industrial policy for particular criticism. Joint cooperation projects remain modest, while member states continue to build duplicating production lines and then protect them with barriers that contradict the very spirit of the union.

In the automotive sector, he noted, early promises of joint investment in components have given way to closed national markets and sky-high recycling fees that soon risk exceeding the price of the vehicles themselves.

“On what union are we even speaking?” he asked pointedly.

The Belarusian leader also called for a more selective approach to new partners. Observer status and free-trade zones should not be granted wholesale, but only to countries that genuinely meet strict criteria and bring clear benefits to the union — a position endorsed by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

On the sensitive question of Armenia, Lukashenko revealed that the leaders had discussed the issue in closed session and adopted a joint statement.

“We do not want Armenia to leave our Eurasian Union,” he said. “At the same time, we respect the choice of the Armenian people. If the people decide through an honest, open and democratic referendum to leave the EAEU and join the European Union one day, we will not stand in their way. But they must clearly understand what they gain — and what they lose.”

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised to present the full picture — including comparisons with Ukraine’s long-standing aspirations and Turkey’s decades-long wait — to anyone willing to listen.

After the formal session, Lukashenko again fielded questions from journalists about his telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on 24 May.

He described the hour-and-forty-minute call, initiated by Paris, as friendly and constructive, though he firmly rejected any suggestion that Macron had tried to “warn” him against entering the war.

“Macron knows me well enough not to lecture me,” Lukashenko said. “I think a thousand times before I act — and I consider the consequences, unlike some others.”

He repeated his categorical denial of any plans to join the conflict, his explanation of the joint nuclear exercise with Russia, and his insistence that nuclear weapons would only ever be considered in the event of direct aggression against Belarus.

The conversation ended on Ukraine. “You should be striving for peace, not preparing to respond,” Lukashenko told Macron, before gently teasing him: “After Yerevan you could have come to Minsk. Vladimir Vladimirovich and I would have met you there.” Macron reportedly did not rule out such a meeting.

Lukashenko urged the French leader — whom he called “the aksakal” (elder) of European politics — to take the initiative.

“You’ve been in power for so many years. The others are all young. You are the main actor in Europe right now — the engine. You went to Armenia; now come to us. Let’s talk seriously in Minsk or Moscow.”

The two sides agreed that European security must be decided in Europe itself, not dictated from outside.

At Macron’s request, Lukashenko consented to receive a trusted French envoy in Minsk “literally on Monday or Tuesday” for detailed talks.

On normalising EU-Belarus relations, Lukashenko was blunt: the much-touted potash fertiliser issue is no longer relevant.

“All volumes are already contracted at favourable prices. We don’t have a single free tonne — not just of potash, but of phosphorus and nitrogen fertilisers either.”

Belarus has fully reoriented its markets, he explained, and now ships through Russian ports.

While loading via neighbouring Lithuania would be more convenient and profitable, Minsk has adapted without difficulty.

“So the whole story about potash is just something our fugitive opposition keeps feeding them,” Lukashenko added with a smile.

The summit concluded with a clear message from Lukashenko: the union must deliver tangible results quickly, or risk losing both momentum and attractiveness.

“If we do not make our union effective,” he warned, “we will turn into what Mayakovsky called ‘talking shops’ — and people and business will simply stop believing in us.”