Interview with Rossiya TV channel

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko sat down for an interview with the Big Sunday News show on the Rossiya TV channel.

The interview was hosted by Evgeny Popov, a journalist and host of the 60 Minutes talk show, member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

The interview lasted about two hours. Aleksandr Lukashenko gave detailed, sincere and open answers on a wide range of topics, including Belarusian-Russian cooperation, regional and international issues.

In particular, the interview touched on the measures to ensure the security of Belarus and Russia, the Union State as a whole, the situation in Ukraine and ways to resolve the conflict, the response to the behavior of Western neighbors and the situation on the border. Certain aspects of domestic policy, the President's personal role in the development of the country and his plans for the future.

The trending topics were also touched on during the interview. Among them were the incident with the violation of the airspace of Belarus by Ukrainian drones, "red lines" in security  and events in Kursk Oblast. When answering questions from the journalist, the head of state also commented on the latest statements by Poland and Ukraine.

Aleksandr Lukashenko made a few comments about the prohibition against the entry of cars with Belarusian license plates into Lithuania.

“Crazies. If I were you, I wouldn’t comment on many of the questions concerning Lithuania. Because they don’t know what they are doing. They are madmen. Genuine crazies. What can I say about them? If there were responsible politicians over there, we could talk about their policy. But there are no responsible politicians over there,” the head of state stated.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there is also a plus side to this decision of Lithuanian authorities from the economic point of view. “Thank god. Our citizens will stop moving money beyond the borders of Belarus and Russia. Although they do it less now. The same applies to Russians. Money will stay here. It is so-called economic tourism. Huge amounts of money were withdrawn from here,” he said.

“Let’s speak sincerely. There is nothing alive left in Lithuania. But people in the European Union are no fools after all. They moved their goods into Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Russians and Belarusians went there in droves and spent huge amounts of money, billions of U.S. dollars over there. Well, they won’t now. If we look at it from the point of view of pragmatism, from the economic point of view,” the President noted. “If we look at it from the political point of view, it is total madness. They do everything that people in Lithuania, that Lithuanian citizens do not like. Whatever we may say about Lithuanians, they have been very hardworking people since the Soviet times. They compare what they had in the Soviet Union and what they have now.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko reminded that Ukraine and Lithuania were viewed as crown jewels of the USSR: “I remember it well. Lithuania was a very well-developed country. I can mention that they made radio receivers, automobiles, and other goods in the Soviet period. They could have developed it to the level of, for instance, Mercedes Company. They have nothing at all now. There are ruins over there. This is why they cannot offer their own goods. If we talk about so-called Lithuanian [goods], those are made at a factory built by Germans or someone else.”

Thus, the President noted, a lot of retail outlets and shops with various European goods were opened near the Belarusian border, including in Lithuania. “And due to our craziness… You see, people really craved buying imports. If you don’t have a Gucci or Versace, then that’s it, you are nobody. I don’t know what suits you wear. But I wear Belarusian suits made in a local dress shop, which made them back in the day,” the Belarusian leader told the interviewer Evgeny Popov.

“A well-made suit,” the reporter noted.

“I just advise you not to pay attention to this craziness [Lithuania’s latest decisions]. The West and the European Union can be cited as examples of craziness, examples of what they can do to their satellites, which didn’t play and don’t play any role in history today. I don’t even pay attention to it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

One of the questions focused on the uncouth statement made by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the violation of Belarus’ airspace by drones. Ukrainian officials responded by saying that there is nothing to talk about and that it is not something worth thinking about.

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the obnoxious behavior has been going on since the days of the Studio Kvartal 95 [a television entertainment company co-founded by Vladimir Zelensky]. “Real diplomats do not indulge in such things even if there is ‘nothing to talk about’. Secondly… Diplomats constantly speak things other than those on their minds. There is something to talk about.”

The head of state said that after the incident involving the drones and after statements and actions on the part of the Belarusian side Ukraine responded: “We received signals right away from those, who do politics responsibly, and from Ukrainian military. They showed concern: what, how…”

The President pointed out that all of it was going on while additional measures to guard the state border were being implemented. “They redeployed additional units towards our border when they saw that we are deploying the relevant units at the border. They [these units] occupied their positions, which we had defined a long time before. I am in favor of taking every precaution. When the time comes, every unit, every company, every battalion has to occupy their own assigned position,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained.

In his words, brigades and battalion tactical groups had been chosen in Belarus for operating in the vicinity of the Belarusian-Ukrainian state border. More than 20 of them are supposed to be there. “Every group knows what terrain, territory and so on they need to occupy. It is mandatory for the sake of preventing a breakthrough. This is why we did it,” the President clarified.

“And they [on the Ukrainian side] saw it. They and westerners kept constantly telling us that they don’t need a war with Belarus. We understand it and say that we are not going to fight against you,” the head of state said. He explained that there are no aggressive intentions not because there are good people on the other side but because Belarus and Russia are not interested in expanding the line of combat operations. “The entire border is about 1,200km long. At present the frontline of the special military operation is about 1,000km. Are we ready to cover 1,200km? No. And Kursk demonstrated that. We would have to organize mobilization [if events unfolded according to that scenario]. This is what the West wants from us and primarily from Russia in order to stir up the society from within. This is why we are not ready for it. We don’t want that,” the Belarusian leader noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “We don’t want escalation and we don’t want a war against the entire NATO. We don’t want that. But if they do it and if they go ahead with it, well… We will have no other way out. And there will be no ‘red lines’. There is one red line: the state border. Once you step on it (I say it as a border guard), the response will be instant. It has been prepared as orders in safes as it should be.”

“A direct question that the West loves to ask leaders: Are you ready to press the ‘red button’?” journalist Evgeny Popov asked.

“I have heard the discussions of all these issues. It is you who asked me about nuclear weapons. As Putin says: ‘I did not raise this topic, you asked me’. As for the nuclear weapons: they ‘have pushed red buttons’ all around, along the perimeter of Belarus and Russia. The only thing left is to press the real ‘red button’. Therefore, from a moral point of view, it is probably somehow uncomfortable for Putin and me, who will actually have to make such decisions, to even talk about it,” the President said.

"Secondly, when tactical nuclear weapons were deployed here, I told them [opponents abroad] (although they consider me crazy and capable of using weapons): "We are not going to use any weapons until you step on our state border. It is also the border of the Union State," the Belarusian leader said. 

Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that Russia, according to the agreements, in the event of aggression against Belarus, shall send its troops to Belarus to provide military support.

"Russia, according to our agreement, shall send its troops (they have been designated already) to Belarus. We take the first blow and then Russia backs us up. This is Belarus and Russia’s common war against these beasts. Should we wait until they destroy our country, as it happened with the Soviet Union [the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War]? No! Therefore, we will respond instantly and appropriately," the President said.  

"If they do not want this to happen, then let's sit down at the negotiating table and end this fight. Neither the Ukrainian people, nor the Russians, or the Belarusians need it. It is them who need this conflict. I cannot disclose these facts as they are top secret. But they [high-ranking officials] openly say and I quote: ‘it is good that Ukrainians and Russians kill each other’,” the President said. “High-ranking officials are talking about such things. They are of U.S. origin (I will lift the veil a little bit here). Is this OK? They want us to destroy each other,” the head of state said.

The head of state was asked how he sees the current stage of development of the Union State, how strong and indestructible it is, and what else needs to be done for closer integration.

"I can say this: people in Russia and in Belarus need to follow in the footsteps of the two Presidents. You see, we are very tight. President Putin has no such relations with anyone as he does with Belarus. This is natural. There is no need to invent a wheel here, no conspiracy theories. We are allies. This says it all," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

The President also said that such close cooperation is based on the similarity of the two peoples who, according to him, are practically indistinguishable from each other.

"Some say we are Russian people. What is the difference between us, Belarusians and Russians? No difference. I joked once: Belarusians are Russians with a quality mark," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. 

The head of state remarked that Belarus-Russia relations had varied over the course of history and there had been periods of complications. “We fell out of Russia’s favor back then. For the wrong kind of policy. For someone wanting to grab the crown of Russian tsars in the Kremlin and so on and so forth,” the President said. “Belarus faced strong pressure because of that. But together with my colleagues I still pursued the policy we pursue now all the same.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that there had been times of serious disagreements with President Vladimir Putin. He recalled: “I told him: ‘You know, we can quarrel all we want but we should see interests of our own nation first. Secondly, time will come when we stand back to back and shoot back together.’ The RTR and all the [Russian TV] channels criticized us so much back then. Take these materials and watch them.” Many were convinced back then that the time when the two Presidents have to stand back to back and fire back would never happen. “And your military said that Belarus is a small country. Only 800-1,000km. They can fire from the Moscow area over Belarus in order to hit any target in the West. It turned out it is not true,” the President added.

“It turned out that we are standing back to back,” the head of state stated. This is why he mentioned a conversation he had with Vladimir Putin as Russia was launching the special military operation in Ukraine. “He asked me to cover Russians from the rear. I said: what rear? He pointed to the junction of Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland. I thought to myself: ‘Well done! He feels that these scoundrels can do anything’. Back then I said that we will not allow anyone to shoot Russians in the back. We deployed practically half the army back then and covered that direction. They realized that we are not to be trifled with. This is why we stand now. Back to back at times. Sometimes while looking each other in the eye. And we fight against these cynics,” the President stressed.

According to the head of state, at present it is necessary to advance Belarus-Russia integration ties by following the example of relations between the leaders of the two states. “You in Russia and we in Belarus should follow in footsteps of the two Presidents. You see our relations are absolutely tight. President Putin does not have the kind of relations he has with Belarus with anyone else. It is natural. No need to invent anything. No need for conspiracy theories. We are allies. It explains everything,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.