Lukashenka: «Russia Will Never Fight Against Belarus»

Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said he does not believe that Russia will ever wage war on Belarus.

Responding to a question posed by RFE/RL on whether Belarus might become a target for Russian aggression in the wake of Ukraine developments, Lukashenka said:

“Russia will never fight against Belarus. It would be a disaster for Russia itself.”

Lukashenka added that Belarus remains Russia's “only conscientious and reputable ally."

According to Lukashenka, Ukraine is not without blame for what happened to Crimea, and what is currently happening in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

“We [in Belarus] would fight for any single piece of our land. I told [former acting Ukrainian president Oleksandr] Turchynov, 'If it is your land, why didn't you fight for it, especially since you had a lot of Ukrainian troops there. Why didn't you fight? Were you in fact admitting that it wasn't your land?'”

Alyaksandr Lukashenka is giving an interview to three independent Belarusian journalists, with RFE/RL Belarus Service Minsk Bureau deputy chief Valer Kalinouski among them.