During a gathering in Moscow with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, president of Belarus Aleksander Lukashenko stressed the importance of relations between both countries.
‘There can be no another way. Belarus will never leave Russia alone, as Russia will never leave Belarus," he said.
In his opinion, the ties between the 2 countries are “open and fraternal”.
Lukashenko besides referred to reports by independent Russian media, which speculated that Moscow was planning a “quiet annexation” of Belarus by 2030 through the harmonisation of law, economical integration and a common abroad policy. He denied specified action.
In a conversation for the Rossia-1 tv channel, he argued that speculation on Russia's aggression against NATO was a deliberate political effort by the West to justify rising arms spending.
"Putin and Russian leadership plan no war and no war in 5 years," he said. "War, for example, with Poland in 5 years? No, why do we request this? They request it to make things worse."
He stressed that if Russia were actually planning a military operation against NATO, it would gotta know this due to the fact that the operation would gotta run through Belarusian territory.
"A 1000 thousand kilometres of borders with the Baltics and Poles. We do not have specified plans," he said.
In his opinion, Western countries “need” specified narratives to justify rising military spending and plans to make a European army.
"If Russia and the US scope an agreement without Europe, Europe will be in trouble, given the position the US administration has taken today," he said.
Belarus towards sanctions and global relations
Belarus has been in expanding global isolation since the brutal suppression of protests in 2020 and support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The West imposed sanctions on Minsk, cutting the country off from Western markets.
Despite this, Lukashenko assured that Belarus is not alone internationally.
"We keep relations with China, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the EU. But we will always be on the side of Moscow," he declared.
Lukashenko's statements confirm Belarus' close relation with Russia and Minsk's deficiency of intention to retreat from this alliance. Although the Belarusian leader denies the existence of Russian war plans against NATO, his words should be treated at a distance, especially in the context of Minsk's always deeper integration into the Kremlin.
