Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko rejected the notion of Belarus formally joining Russia during an interview with the Russian news outlet Izvestia.
The interview, published on Friday, had Lukashenko commenting on local geopolitical issues, including the war in Ukraine and the Belarusian presidential elections in 2025.
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
At one point, the journalists asked Lukashenko about the prospects and challenges currently facing the Union State of Belarus and Russia – a 1999 treaty that abolished borders and established a common economic zone between the two – and Lukashenko rejected proposals in some quarters for Belarus to become a part of Russia, adding that this would mean war.
“You are smaller, we are bigger, and our economy is such and such. We will help you and continue to join Russia. You cannot pose questions like that.
“It is impossible and unrealistic. I am afraid to even say that this is war,” Lukashenko said.
He then went on to emphasize Belarus’s role in establishing the Union State, even before Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power.
“And we have more than enough specialists to build such close relations in the Union State, to create this Union State, we have set our sights on this. I was the initiator of this back in [former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin’s time.
“We can build such relations that will be closer and stronger than in a unitary state. And no one will be offended by anyone. We need this,” he added.
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Lukashenko also emphasized the importance of planning ahead during one of his comments on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“Okay, let’s say Russia conquered Ukraine. What then? Every time a smart, wise politician takes a step, he should think, ‘What next?’ That’s why Putin, he often talks about this, has never had the task of conquering…
“That’s why the world is like this now, it’s not the Middle Ages, when you captured a territory, pay taxes and that’s it – the world has changed, the world is different. That’s why you shouldn’t set stupid goals for yourself, and you should always think about what will happen next,” he added.
Belarus has been a staunch ally of Russia, particularly after the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections which saw Minsk increasingly isolated from the West amidst election fraud claims and subsequent crackdowns on dissidents.
Russia also launched its 2022 invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory, though Minsk has been ostensibly reluctant to directly participate in the war.
Often referred to as “the last dictatorship in Europe” by Western media, Lukashenko’s 30-year rule of the country which officially began in 1994, has been marred by an endless stream of human rights abuse allegations and political oppression, which his supporters have hailed as the necessary means to maintain stability.