Lukashenko on Belarus-Russia relations: we are allies, no more words
In an interview with Rossiya TV channel today, President Aleksandr Lukashenko commented on the integration of Belarus and Russia within the framework of the Union State
Answering the journalist's question about what should be done for greater integration, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that both Russia and Belarus ‘need to follow in the footsteps of the two presidents’. “You see our relationship, they are absolutely close. President Putin has no such relations with anyone as with Belarus. This is natural, there is no need to invent anything, there is no conspiracy theory. We are allies, and no more words are needed,” he explained.
According to the President of Belarus, there is no difference between Belarusians and Russians, they are very close people. Meanwhile, in a political sense, there were very different times when Belarus was not pleasing to Russia and allegedly pursued the wrong policy.
“[There were allegations that] someone wanted to grab Monomakh's hat in the Kremlin – and so on and so forth. Because of that, there was a pressure on Belarus, but, together with my colleagues, I was still pursuing the policy that is being implemented now," the Belarusian leader said.
The President also recalled that there were frequent disagreements between him and Vladimir Putin, but Aleksandr Lukashenko always stressed that it’s always necessary to see the interests of their own people. “That was the first point. The second one was that the time will come when we will stand back to back and shoot back together,” he said.
As noted by the President, that position was criticised by some Russian journalists, and some military personnel in Russia were quite sceptical about it as well. “It has turned out that we are now standing back to back. When the special military operation began, I openly said that, a few days later Putin and I met, and he told me, “I am asking you to cover us from the rear.” I then said that we would not allow Russians to be shot in their back. We then attracted almost half the army and shielded that area. So, we are standing now – sometimes back to back and sometimes looking at each other – and fighting.”
