Peace initiatives

"Decades and hundreds of years of negotiations are better than one day of war."

"Belarus remains an island of peace, calm and order and this is our achievement. Certain people have forgotten the lessons of the Great Patriotic War. Anybody could forget these lessons, but for Belarusians. That war claimed millions of lives of our people, therefore many years later we still know and remember that nothing is more precious than peace."

"The international community views Belarus as a mainstay of regional security."

"We are peaceful people, we do not want war. We are not rich, but we do not ask anyone for anything. We will earn our happiness ourselves. Tens and hundreds of years of negotiations are better than one day of war."

"Belarus’ proposal to create a weapons-free space in Central and Eastern Europe is a meaningful and substantial contribution to the establishment of the common and inclusive security architecture in Europe."

"Our state is an advocate of security in the region and the world. We were the first ever to renounce the possession of nuclear weapons. We were among the first to fulfill the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. We are trying our best to build bridges between Europe’s major military and political alliances – the Collective Security Treaty Organization and NATO."

"We, Belarusians, a tolerant and open nation will do our utmost to promote mutual understanding and cooperation on the continent, to become a link between states and peoples. This is one of my priority tasks as President. If this goal is achieved, this will tremendously benefit  Belarus, our neighbors and other countries."

"It is important today to stop geopolitical rivalry in the region, to drop the idea to establish "spheres of influence" and to coerce other nations into adopting a certain social and political model. Everyone needs reconciliation of integration processes and an exclusively peaceful settlement of disputes."

"We suggest ‘integration of integrations’… Such integration in the post-Soviet space is a faster way towards closer and more equitable relations with the European Union and towards a Greater Europe than separate negotiations in European offices."

"We advocate a peaceful policy. We do not need these squabbles of big powers, from which we have suffered throughout our history."

"It is of crucial importance for us to prevent new dividing lines in the European region. We need the relationships between the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union to be complementary rather than conflicting."

"We do not want to land on a new civilizational fissure line, in the thick of a political standoff between East and West. Belarusians know very well what may come out of it. As tensions grow, some say that Belarus might turn into a buffer state, a ‘bastion’ between Russia and NATO. Had world leaders agreed not to push Eastern European countries into various military and political blocs, not to demand their loyalty to the detriment of sovereign interests, this region could have become a transboundary belt of stability and cooperation."

"I believe the world will be saved if we stop, if we at least do not rush into an arms race and a war. We are about to start shooting at each other. We need Helsinki 2."

"We understand the status of the ‘crossroads’, which Belarus is geopolitically endowed with, as a connecting link, an artery between West and East, and never as a barrier, a buffer or a sanitary cordon and by no means a transit lane. We will not be choosing between the European Union and Russia. We have our own place in Europe, given to our people by the Lord, our own geopolitical identity and national interests, the most important of which is to ensure balanced cooperation with all, to establish a good neighborhood belt along the entire perimeter of our borders."