Lukashenko: our peaceful nature shouldn’t be confused with pacifism

Belarus will take symmetrical measures and increase its combat power amid growing threats, since we must be strong so that no one dares to bring us to our knees – as stated today by President Aleksandr Lukashenko at the 7th Belarusian People’s Congress

photo: www.president.gov.by

The Head of State drew the attention of the Belarusian People’s Congress delegates to the specific policies pursued by some Belarus’ neighbours, “Latvians are really strange. It’s not a rich country. Their pensioners are barely making ends meet, while their young people are fleeing in search of a better life. However, against the backdrop of hysteria around the threat of nuclear war – which everyone is talking about – Latvia spends huge money to build concrete blocks and metal barriers in the border strip, following the example of Poland. The total budget for these works will stand at €300m. By the way, in such cases, considerable amounts of money end up in the pockets of high-ranking officials. We are already seeing high-profile revelations and resignations, so I’m not making anything up here.”

“One thing is clear: they want to drag us into a war. I, as Commander-in-Chief, as well as our military and special services see this. They are provoking us, digging trenches and modernising their military infrastructure and weapons. I have already said that we are building a peaceful life here, on the other side of the border. We don’t construct walls and don’t dig trenches,” Aleksandr Lukashenko asserted.

At the same time, the Belarusian leader warned, “Our peaceful nature shouldn’t be confused with pacifism. We’ll take symmetrical measures and increase combat power amid growing threats. And, turning to them, I would like to ask them not to push us towards asymmetrical measures. We must be strong so that no one dares to bring us to our knees, as has often happened in our history. We must be strong so that we are no longer thrown from goal to goal like a ball: first in one direction, then in the other. We don’t ask land from anyone, and we don’t demand anything from anyone. We want to live on our own land. Our Belarusian people have suffered for this right, and we won’t give it to anyone!”

“Dear delegates and invitees, we will talk about this in more detail tomorrow, when we’ll be discussing the new National Security Concept and Military Doctrine,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.