Łukašenka plays down Russia’s “strategic goals” on Belarus

February 26, BPN. Alaksandr Łukašenka says the document outlining incorporation of Belarus into Russia may be real.

According to the leaked strategy document from Vladimir Putin’s office, Russia’s end goal is to build a Union State with Belarus by no later than 2030, media reported earlier this week.

Speaking with reporters in Raŭbičy on February 25, the Belarusian strongman said the paper might have been drafted three years ago, when Minsk and Moscow discussed integration programs. There were different points of view at the time, and some officials might have offered Putin’s team to approach Belarus this way, Łukašenka said.

He went on to say that the document was published in order to shake up Belarus. “2024 is a major election year, when deputies of all levels and the All-Belarusian People’s Assembly will be elected. And we will gradually come to the 2025 presidential election,” he said. “They [the West] want to pull us apart, to tear us apart again.”

He emphasized that Belarus is a sovereign and independent state.