Lukashenko: massacre in Ukraine was unleashed by Ukrainian rabid nationalist politicians, ordinary people were not going to fight
The massacre in Ukraine was unleashed by Ukrainian rabid nationalist politicians, and the people there were not going to fight – as stated by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko in an extended version of his interview with Rossiya TV channel (broadcast by Belarus 1 TV channel), BelTA reports
The Head of State noted that the situation developing in Ukraine is very tragic for him. There are personal reasons for that as well, because – as the President has said more than once – his roots are somewhere between Chernigov and Kiev. "What is happening there is tragic for me," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
The President stressed that the responsibility for everything that is happening in Ukraine now lies with the politicians of this country, who could have prevented the tragedy, but did not do that. "I witnessed the origin of this massacre, it was initiated by Nazis – as you call them. It was the nationalist elite led by Poroshenko, Zelenskyy and others, and these are they who are to blame. The process continued developing, but they made a start. Ukrainian people did not fight against us (and we did not fight against them), and they were not going to fight. This war was started by rabid nationalist politicians," the Head of State stressed.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when he came to power, had the opportunity to move away from the policy that was carried out in Donbass and Odessa when people were burned in the House of Trade Unions. However, he did not do that because of his political inexperience and other circumstances. "Volodya Zelenskyy is an inexperienced person, he inherited a serious legacy," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “It was impossible for him [to cope with the burden]. He was primarily not a politician. He was not ready for that, so he did not manage to move away."
Another Ukrainian politician who could influence the development of the events was Petro Poroshenko during his presidency. That possibility was discussed by the three leaders: Vladimir Putin, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Petro Poroshenko. "The three of us – Putin, me and Poroshenko – worked so that this would not happen. [Poroshenko] agreed, “Well, I understand and so on.” But he then moved away from this policy of reconciliation," the Head of State recalled.
The President also mentioned a conversation he had with Vladimir Putin and Sergei Shoigu [then Russian Defence Minister] shortly after the battle for Donetsk airport took place, in which many Ukrainians died. "They lost that fight. We were just negotiating with Putin in Sochi. I was talking to Shoigu on the phone at the time. Shoigu told me then, “It's time to end this slaughter. Why do we need this?" That was the policy then,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
"Coming after the previous nationalists and others, Poroshenko could have [built] such a policy [of reconciliation],” the Head of State stressed. “He promised that it would be so. However, later, he moved away from that – under pressure from the West, primarily the UK. The latter was the guide, and he changed his policy.”
