Interview with Sky News Arabia

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave an interview to Sky News Arabia on 19 July.

The interview lasted for about an hour. The head of state answered the journalist’s questions about the emergency landing of the Ryanair aircraft, whether the President thinks it was a provocation, and if it was by whom. Special attention was also drawn to the relations of Belarus with the West and the possibility of the dialogue with the EU, sanctions and their impact on the country’s economy. One of the questions touched on the topic of illegal migration through Belarus to the countries of the European Union. Besides, the interviewer asked about Belarus’ participation in the next session of the UN General Assembly.

The channel's chief news editor, Imad El Atrache, was the interviewer.

Answering the question about the impact of the sanctions on Belarus, the head of state noted that they came as no surprise and the response to them had been elaborated in advance. “Of course, sanctions are unpleasant for any country. I admit it. But we realized that sooner or later these sanctions would be introduced. They were imposed against our individuals (these are 150-200 real patriots of our country) who run the country and defend it, and against our biggest companies. For what? In order to destroy our economy. We expected this and prepared for this,” the Belarusian leader explained.

According to him, the country’s economy has been growing steadily since the beginning of this year. “In H1 2021, the gross domestic product in Belarus expanded by about 3.5%. This is more than we planned last year,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The President stressed that Belarus has always sought to develop trade and economic relations with various countries, and in this context Western Europe was not the only or the priority market for domestic enterprises. “They imposed sanctions against our enterprises, but in fact they had blocked market access for these Belarusian enterprises for a long time. That’s all there is to democracy and international trade. Therefore, we have been promoting cooperation with your region, with Central Asia. But our main partner is Russia,” the head of state said in the interview.

“We keep going. We are looking into what other sanctions they can come up with and are preparing for this. Meanwhile, our GDP has added 3.5%,” the Belarusian leader said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also made a few comments in response to accusations of the country’s involvement in illegal migration.

Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “If they – Lithuanians, Poles, Germans or French – want to hide the truth, they can blame Belarus for being involved in this migration. If they truly want to fight illegal migration and turn the illegal migration situation back to normal, they should start with themselves.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out that there are groups of criminal nature in Lithuania, which complicity in illegal migration looks obvious. “Why don’t they see that? Once they get rid of the groups that bring illegal migrants to Lithuania in exchange for money, illegal migration to Lithuania will become lower than last year. There will be a handful [of illegal migrants]. This is why they should start working on it. If they need help, we will provide this help but no longer for free,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that in the current situation it is at least strange for the Lithuanian side to demand protection against illegal migrants from Belarus. “They’ve introduced sanctions against us. They’ve decided to choke my country, my people. I am the President of this people. I have to evaluate the situation and take certain actions to prevent the choking of the people and the destruction of the country. They take such steps against the Belarusian people and yet they want us to protect them in this situation? Listen, it is at least strange,” he is convinced.

The head of state noted that efforts to suppress criminal actions at the border such as illegal migration, smuggling of weapons and drugs require considerable funding. “If you want us to help you with that, don’t try to choke us,” Aleksandr Lukashenko pointed out.