{"id":200106,"date":"2026-08-15T21:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/200106\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T21:25:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T18:25:25","slug":"lukasenka-we-dont-want-to-fight-russians-ukrainians-tatars-or-jews","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/200106\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka: We\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0Want to Fight Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, or Jews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (\u0141uka\u0161enka's press office) <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

August 15, Pozirk. <\/strong>Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka has once again rejected accusations of participating in the aggression against Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not aggressors by any means. We do not want to fight Russians, Ukrainians, Tatars, or Jews. Everyone lives here, and lives normally,\u201d the Belarusian ruler said in an opening speech at a folk culture festival in the Pietryka\u016d district, Homiel region, on August 15. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka urged the audience to look at \u201cwhat is happening around us in terms of religious and ethnic animosity \u2013 it is frightening to even think about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will live peacefully if we do not take what belongs to others and line our own pockets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka emphasized his commitment to peace, recalling Belarus\u2019 offer earlier this summer to allow Ukrainian berry and mushroom hunters into nearby Belarusian forests to pick mushrooms and berries. \u201cThere is a war going on, and we are accused of aggression, yet, at the same time, the aggressor ordered the border to be opened for your neighbours, the poor Ukrainians, who, remember, used to cross the border to harvest wild fruit, berries, mushrooms, and whatever else grows in our marshlands and forests from the Ukrainian side,\u201d he said, claiming that the business earned the Ukrainians up to $5,000 or $6,000.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 25, Belarus\u2019 State Border Committee announced readiness to let Ukrainians into Belarusian forests in the Stolin district of the Brest region to pick mushrooms and berries. The proposed seasonal simplified access permit could reportedly apply to residents of Ukraine\u2019s Rivne region at three border crossings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal has been forwarded to the Ukrainian side through diplomatic channels, the border committee added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said that Ukraine had not received any information from Minsk on the initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are not in contact with the Belarusian border guards,\u201d he told pravda.com.ua<\/em>. \u201cUkraine will not agree to this, as it would set a dangerous precedent. Allowing entry into a country that supports a terrorist state is impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berry pickers benefited from simplified border-crossing rules in the years preceding Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which was carried out with support from the authorities in Minsk, the official noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since spring 2022, neither permanent nor simplified border crossing points have been in operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine in which the Belarusian authorities sided with the Kremlin, allowing Russian troops to attack Ukraine from Belarus on multiple occasions, supplying weapons to Moscow and providing other kinds of assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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