Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus. Photo: president.gov.by
Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has claimed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin did not ask him for authorisation to attack Ukraine from the territory of Belarus, as it was a routine “withdrawal of troops after the exercises”.
Source: Lukashenko in an interview with the BBC‘s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg
Details: Rosenberg asked Lukashenko why he had allowed the Kremlin to attack Ukraine, including from the territory of Belarus.
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Quote: “How do you know I gave permission for Belarusian territory to be used?”
The journalist replied that Belarusian territory had been used for the invasion.
Quote from Lukashenko: “There were exercises going on involving several thousand Russian soldiers. Putin started withdrawing these troops from where they were in southern Belarus, down a road, along the border with Ukraine.
At one point he redirected some of these troops to Kyiv. I’m sure they’d been provoked. It’s up to Putin how he withdraws his troops. Via Kyiv. Or he could have gone through Minsk.”
Rosenberg asked whether Lukashenko had called Putin to clarify what was happening.
In response, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus said: “No. He didn’t call me. And I didn’t call him. These are his troops and he has the right to move them out whichever way he likes.”
The BBC stressed that Lukashenko’s comment “reflects the degree of influence the Kremlin has in neighbouring Belarus”.
Another example of this is the fact that Russia has deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
When asked whether Putin was ready to use these weapons in the war against Ukraine, Lukashenko claimed that Putin would “never use the weapons stationed in Belarus without the Belarusian president’s consent”. But he quickly stressed that he himself was “completely ready” to allow the use of these nuclear weapons.
“I’m completely ready, otherwise why have these weapons? But only if the boot of one [foreign] soldier steps into Belarus. We have no plans to attack anyone,” Lukashenko emphasised.
For reference:
- Russia has been using the territory of Belarus throughout the full-scale invasion: the Russian military invaded Ukraine, among other things, from the territory of Belarus, and Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine with missiles from the territory of Belarus.
- Putin has used the territory of Belarus for the training and treatment of Russian soldiers, as well as for the transfer of weapons and equipment.
- It is on the territories of Belarus bordering Ukraine and Poland that Russia conducts joint military exercises with the Belarusian army, including those involving the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
- Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, among other things, explained his full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the fact that Ukraine was supposedly preparing to attack Russia. Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed Belarusian President, echoed Putin’s words and even promised to show some maps of where the attack was being prepared, but he never did.
- Instead, during the more than two years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenko has repeatedly stated that NATO could supposedly attack Belarus. It is supposedly precisely because of this imaginary threat that Belarus conducts numerous military exercises near the borders of other countries and has even deployed Russian nuclear weapons on its territory.
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