Łukašenka gives EU nod of approval at meeting with Hungarian foreign minister

October 26, Pozirk. Alaksandar Łukašenka has told Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó that he strongly supports the preservation of the European Union.

“Not because I like the EU much, but because together with the USA, China, Russia, and to some extent India, it is a strong support for the existence of our planet. And if you pull this support out from under this system, it will be very bad for everybody,” he told Szijjártó, who came to Minsk for a Eurasian security conference.

According to the Belarusian leader’s press office, Szijjártó called for dialogue to resolve regional conflicts. “We would like this war [in Ukraine] to be over as soon as possible,” he said.

Łukašenka criticized the EU in the past but also supported its existence on several occassions, for example at the March 2019 meeting with then-Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. In his 2023 state of the nation address, the Belarusian ruler said that “Europe can only survive with us, first of all with Russia.”