Belarus President: Mr. Putin never set the task of conquering Ukraine
Belarus President Lukashenko said that Mr. Putin never had a mission to conquer Ukraine.
According to RIA Novosti on October 25, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview with Izvestia that Russian President Vladimir Putin never had the mission to conquer Ukraine.
“Yes, today you can conquer something, but what about tomorrow? Maybe we conquered Ukraine, and then what? You always have to take one step forward. A smart, wise politician should think, ‘So what?’ The president used to say this before: he never faced the task of conquering,” said Belarusian President Lukashenko.
According to Mr. Lukashenko, he often discusses Ukrainian issues with his Russian counterpart.
“We often discuss this issue, we always ask the question, ‘What to do next?’” – the Belarusian leader said.
The world has changed, he stressed. Therefore, according to Mr. Lukashenko, “there is no need to set stupid goals for ourselves and we should think about what will happen next.”
Answering the question about Belarus joining the Russian Federation, which has never been raised, President Lukashenko said: “Belarus and Russia have a common homeland: from Brest to Vladivostok. We have been used to this for decades, centuries. But the merger did not happen, but there are two sovereign states. Belarus and Russia are huge. This is an unchangeable law in our time.”
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin called its goal “to protect those who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.” Putin noted that the special operation was a forced measure, Russia “had no other options, the security risk created was such that it was impossible to respond with other measures.”
According to Mr. Putin, Russia has been trying for 30 years to reach an agreement with NATO on security principles in Europe, but in response it has faced deception or attempts to pressure and sanctions from the alliance. Meanwhile, despite Moscow's objections, NATO is gradually expanding and approaching Russia's borders.
