Lukašenka: we will respond if Ukraine keeps up the escalation against Belarus

March 17, BPN. “If Ukraine keeps up the escalation against Belarus, we will respond,” Aliaksandr Lukašenka told Japan’s TBS.

“I mean that they had planned a strike on Belarus from four directions at the time of the conflict around February, 23 or 24. I mentioned this. We prevented it. They are violating our state border by aircraft, helicopter and so on,” Lukašenka was quoted by his press service as saying.

“Moreover, they fired at least two Tochka-U missiles at Belarus last week,” he claimed. “Fortunately, we managed to shoot them down. If they keep provoking us, we will have to respond.”

“I am pretty much convinced that we won’t have to go to war with Ukraine. Despite Americans and their partners pushing us into this conflict today, we are smart enough not to get dragged into this conflict.”

Lukašenka insisted again that “not a single Belarusian soldier is fighting in Ukraine.” “Despite their hostile attitude towards Belarus, supported by the West (we are over it now), I called Zelensky and offered to negotiate with Russia immediately. In fact, it was on the third or fourth day of this war [February 27 – BPN]. He accepted the offer. We have organized three rounds of talks here in Belarus. Now these talks continue via video conference,” said Lukašenka.

“We are not attacking Ukraine and we are not bombing Ukraine,” he stressed. “We support negotiations. We want these negotiations to end in this very room.”

As Lukašenka’s press service noted, the interview with the Japanese journalist took place in the Green Hall at the Palace of Independence, where the so-called Normandy Format talks were held in 2015 to reach an agreement on the conflict in Donbas with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, and Russian President Vladimir Putin participating.

“We support negotiations. We want peace there. If there is no peace there, there will be no peace in Belarus in the future. This is our position,” Lukašenka said.