“Multi-Vector Policy Is Pure Economy” — Lukashenko Explains Belarus’ Pragmatic Global Balancing

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has once again made it crystal clear: Belarus’ multi-vector foreign policy is not a matter of political maneuvering or disloyalty — it is a direct consequence of hard economic necessity.

In his interview with RT, the president stressed that the country’s open, export-driven economy leaves Minsk no other choice.

“As for the multi-vector policy, it stems from the economy,” Lukashenko stated.

“We sell more than half of the material goods and services we produce on foreign markets. We have an open economy, therefore we are forced to see our interests in the West, in Russia, in China, and in Africa — wherever everyone is going, including Russia and the Americans.”

The Belarusian leader framed the approach in straightforward, almost existential terms: “This is our interest in order to live — not just to survive, but to live. This interest comes from life itself. What is there to reproach us for? There is nothing.”

By repeatedly tying Belarus’s diplomacy to cold economic realities rather than ideology, Lukashenko is sending a consistent message both to domestic audiences and to critics in Russia and the West: pragmatism is not betrayal — it is survival.

The remarks form part of the same wide-ranging, nearly two-hour conversation with RT host Rick Sanchez that has already produced several widely quoted passages on U.S. relations, democracy, and great-power politics.