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Russian President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, said in an interview with Russian state television that Russia and Ukraine should negotiate an end to the conflict to avoid the war spreading to Belarus.
Lukashenko was speaking against the backdrop of an August 6 invasion of Russia by Ukrainian forces, when thousands of Kiev soldiers overran Russia’s western border, causing great embarrassment to Putin’s top military generals.
In a wide-ranging interview, Lukashenko said only “senior American figures” wanted the war between Ukraine and Russia to continue.
He said the West encouraged Kiev to go to war because it wanted Ukraine and Russia to “destroy each other,” according to excerpts of the nearly two-hour interview posted on the Belarusian president’s website on Thursday.
Russia said on Thursday it would strengthen its border defences as hundreds of thousands of people were ordered to evacuate the western Kursk region. Kiev said its troops had advanced 35 kilometres into Russian territory since last week and continued to make gains.
Lukashenko suggested without providing evidence that Kiev might have plans to attack Belarus and said Minsk would not allow Ukrainian troops to “trample on our country.”
The Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.
Since the Russian president ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, part of which was carried out from Belarusian territory, the Belarusian leader has positioned himself as Putin’s main supporter.
Lukashenko does not want the war to continue and has called for negotiations.
“Let’s sit down at the negotiating table and end this fight. Neither the Ukrainians, the Russians, nor the Belarusians need it. They (the West) need it,” he said.
Moscow says any peace talks should be based on Ukraine ceding a fifth of its territory – much of which is occupied by Russian troops. Ukraine says Kiev is willing to negotiate as long as its sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully respected.
Lukashenko accused Western countries of believing that the unstable situation in Kursk would spur military mobilization in Belarus and Russia and “shake society from within.”
“We don’t want an escalation, we don’t want a war with all of NATO. We don’t want that,” he said.
But Lukashenko warned that if Ukraine did provoke Belarus, “we would have no choice.”
Lukashenko has called the conflict a “common war” between Belarus and Russia against “beasts” – Kiev and its Western allies – and said Moscow would “support us” if Belarus was attacked.
On Saturday, Minsk said it would send troops to reinforce its southern border with Ukraine after accusing Kiev of violating its airspace with drones. Kiev said it had seen no signs of any such buildup.
Lukashenko reiterated allegations of airspace violations and said Belarusian troops had been sent to the border to “prevent a breakthrough.”
He said that unless Belarus’ borders were violated, Minsk saw no reason to use Russian nuclear weapons deployed on Belarusian territory last year.
“We will not use any weapons until you step into our state borders,” he said.
Read more by Euractiv
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