Lukashenko: It's bad for us that actually two neighboring countries are at war

It's bad for Belarus that in fact two neighboring countries are at war. This was stated by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in an interview to the news agency Associated Press, BelTA informs.

"It is bad for us that actually two neighboring countries are at war. They are very close to us," said Alexander Lukashenko.

The President stressed that Belarusians don't accept wars. After all, during the Great Patriotic War, the country lost every third inhabitant, every meter of the territory of the republic suffered. "So how can we contribute to the war? But you must understand: we are allies, the closest allies with the Russian Federation. We have the closest military and political alliance. We have not concealed this from anyone. In fact, we have a single army," added the head of the state.

Alexander Lukashenko recalled that Belarus and Russia had held joint exercises earlier this year. These maneuvers were not hidden from the partners. After the end of the exercises, some of the Russian troops remaining on the Belarusian territory were involved in a special operation in Donbass. But it all started with a provocation on the part of Ukraine, the President said. He reminded that Tochka-U tactical missile systems were deployed near the Belarusian border. We had to take drastic measures to prevent them from hitting Belarus.

"It's our luck that there were still troops there after the exercise. The Russian helped us to hit these four positions. And part of the troops did left Belarus for Ukraine. Should I have done otherwise? I think not. Recent events do not allow you to reproach me with anything. Because the United States of America and the West, instead of ending the war in Ukraine with dignity right now, are escalating the situation, supplying weapons and so on. I can assure you that Russia is fighting too easily in Ukraine. This is still only the beginning. And we need to end it at the beginning. There is no need to escalate the situation. And don't blame us for being on Russia's side," said Alexander Lukashenko.

The President noted that Belarus has always been doing its utmost for peace in Ukraine. But the neighboring country responded in the opposite way: on the eve of the last presidential election in Belarus, Ukraine was training militants. Then the radicals were transferred to Belarus together with the weapons. "More than one person was detained," said the President.

Subsequently, the Ukrainians started imposing sanctions against Belarus even before the Americans and Europeans. And there were many such facts before the conflict with Russia. The question is why did they aggravate the relations with Belarus and provoked Russia? They got what they wanted.