Lukashenko: war in Ukraine should and could have been avoided
The war in Ukraine should and could have been avoided – as noted by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko, BelTA reports
"It was necessary and possible [to avoid war] – at any moment,” the Head of State said, answering the relevant question. “It can be stopped now, and it could have been avoided then."
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he was actually at the epicentre of those events and facilitated communication between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, “I was running between Poroshenko and Putin. The latter said something, and I went to Poroshenko; Poroshenko said something, and I went to Putin. Therefore, I was aware of all the issues.”
The President recalled that – according to the Minsk agreements – it was necessary to legislate the special status of certain districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and to hold local elections there, “I am telling you absolutely frankly what you do not know, and what no one has ever heard. We discussed those issues with Poroshenko and Putin – not together, but separately. I well remember a conversation with Putin. I told him: ‘Listen, it's a good option. Why not? So that gradually, in two-three years, this territory would not be disputed and so on – as it was earlier’.”
However, the then President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, refused to hold such elections. "Poroshenko told me: ‘Why will I hold elections? They will be held under the control of Russia’. I said: ‘Petro, well, this year they will allegedly be held under the control of Russia. We can discuss this issue and come to an agreement’. I then proposed them: I will hold elections there, I will do as you – Putin, Poroshenko – agree. I will conduct them as you decide. Poroshenko refused, but Putin agreed to everything," the Head of State said.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, if it had been implemented then, everything would have been quiet and calm. The Ukrainian Hryvnia would be used in the relevant territories, and, in general, the regions and the border with Russia would be under the control of Ukraine.
"Donbass would return to Ukraine as an autonomy," Diana Panchenko clarified.
"Actually so. But he [Poroshenko] was afraid that the wrong people would be elected,” the President confirmed. “I am telling you this openly that there was such a conversation then. – Well, okay, not those [people] – but it is this year. But you gain control over borders there, they are all inside Ukraine. The wrong ones could be elected… But this is the people’s choice. Next year, the necessary persons would be elected… That was the conversation. It was necessary to solve that issue then. Moreover, there were the Minsk agreements, and everything had been agreed upon. It was necessary to comply with those Minsk agreements, but they were not observed. As far as I understand, no one was going to follow them.”
Answering a clarifying question on whether Russia was going to implement the Minsk agreements, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “It was definitely going, and you cannot blame it that it was not going to. You have no facts for that. Meanwhile, there are plenty of facts that Ukraine has not fulfilled the Minsk agreements.”
In the interview, the President also answered a question about Russia's launch of the special military operation in February 2022. In previous statements and interviews, the Head of State repeatedly explained how events were developing, and he mentioned some facts. He recalled that he had recently suggested asking Volodymyr Zelenskyy why Russian troops crossed the border of Belarus and Ukraine in the Chernobyl region.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that, at that time, even before February 24th when Russia began its military operation, Belarus hosted the usual planned Belarusian-Russian military drills. Manoeuvres of the kind are alternately held on the territories of the two states. "We saw how the situation was developing not even on the border of Belarus and Ukraine, or of Russia and Ukraine. We saw what was happening in the West, from the side of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Do you remember that migration crisis, to which we had practically no relation?” the President asked. “They [migrants] were travelling in crowds also through the Ukrainian territory, but that was not given such importance as on the border of Belarus and Poland. Do you remember those clashes, and so on? We understood that they were beginning to draw us in, to involve and provoke us."
"The exercises ended, and participating Russian troops began to withdraw from the territory of Belarus. The equipment was loaded [to leave the country]. Those were the eastern regions: troops actually came from the Far East. They started to leave the territory,” the Head of State reminded.
At the same time, Belarus has always behaved very decently in relation to Ukraine, but – as noted by Aleksandr Lukashenko – this cannot be said about Ukraine in relation to Belarus. "We are accused of contributing to the outbreak of war here. No, the war was already underway, and you began it in fact. Ukrainians unleashed this war – economic one, first of all – against Belarus. You declared a blockade on us in the southern direction. You did not let our aircraft pass, doing that even earlier than Europeans did. You did not let our cargoes through. Later, you even arrested thousands of wagons with mineral fertilisers that have been loaded by us in the port of Odessa,” the President said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also recalled the situation with the Belarusian truckers captured in Ukraine, several people were killed then. After repeated warnings, the Belarusian side had to carry out an operation to release more than 70 drivers. "You did not even notice that we took them away. You learnt of that only when we informed on that in Minsk [showing on the TV]. This means we behaved very carefully. We did not commit any acts against you – neither economic, nor political, nor diplomatic," Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
"If are you interested in why Putin started withdrawing troops to the Far East through Kiev, then ask Zelenskyy about this. He will give you an answer faster. Meanwhile, when blaming me for the fact that Putin went to Vladivostok through Kiev… Well, you can ask Putin," the Head of State suggested.
Diana Panchenko noted that she would very much like to interview Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but he is not as open to communication as the President of Belarus.
"He was so open in the past. Why has he closed now? Let him answer this question to Ukrainians. You cannot make any claims against me. Not a single Belarusian from our army was there. We did not cross this border. You, in turn, provoked us," the Belarusian leader stressed.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that, long before February 24th, 2022, four Ukrainian units had been deployed on the territory of Ukraine near the border. They were mainly armed with Tochka-U missile systems. “Our intelligence was tracking them. [The Ukrainian military] approached them, removed – roughly speaking – the tarpaulin from the missiles, then deployed them into combat position and turned against us. We had to deal with them during this Russian operation. Russians destroyed them first of all," Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.
In this regard, the President of Belarus asked a rhetorical question: why did the Ukrainian side have to take those actions?
