President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a three-and-a-half-hour press conference at the Palace of Independence in Minsk today, inviting Western reporters stationed in the Belarus capital. Given his increasingly public role in the Ukraine crisis, there have been a lot of requests for interviews from foreign journalists. Therefore, he decided to hold this special press conference with them included. He also indicated that they should have “a conversation in a free manner and talk about issues that concern you and your viewers.”
He began by pointing out that the world established after the Second World War, in which the Soviet Union played a major role no longer existed. “Recently, at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, I said that this world order has been destroyed today. It does not exist. We no longer live by laws, international rules. Today we don’t even live by concepts,” the President said. “The world is destroyed, the world order too. Thanks to the games that the major countries of our planet have started. To put it mildly, what awaits us is the disappearance of the unipolar system. Multipolarity is emerging. And this process cannot be stopped. It cannot be stopped either peacefully or militarily,” he said.
Most of the questions dealt with the fate of the Wagner group, the deployment of nuclear weapons, and the Ukraine war. He said that Belarus is not building a camp for Wagner, but that it would provide unused army camps if any of the Wagner groups wished to resettle in Belarus. At the moment, he indicated that this would have to be decided by Russia and by the Wagner group itself. If they decided to base themselves in Belarus, they would be welcome, and would be attached to the Belarus military forces through contract. He noted that, with their battleground experience, they could add greatly to the training and strength of the Belarus forces. They are not only experienced fighters, he said, but many have been designated as Heroes of Russia.
When asked whether the Wagner group would use the territory for an attack, Lukashenko replied, “We have never attacked anyone…. and we are not going to attack anyone. Nobody is going to attack from our territory. If aggression is committed against us, we will respond. And if PMC Wagner is deployed here, they will defend our interests just like the Belarusian army does.”
He again indicated that Prigozhin is not in Belarus, and that he talked with him on the phone recently. He felt that the situation would be rectified, and that Prigozhin would not be harmed. He noted that Putin knew Prigozhin better than he did, and intimated that the two were in touch. Lukashenko also revealed, that during the days of the Wagner march on Moscow, Lukashenko had told Prigozhin that if they made moves on Moscow, he would send troops from Belarus to fend off the attack, noting that Belarus special forces were ready to be transferred to Moscow for that purpose..
On the issue of tactical nuclear weapons that will be stationed in Belarus, Lukashenko said that they will be delivered by the end of the year, perhaps even earlier. He underlined that they were being deployed solely for defensive purposes, and that any decision to use them, if Belarus or Russia were to be attacked, would be a decision by both of their leaders. He also rejected the notion that President Putin would use tactical nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine. “President Putin has stated several times that he is not even considering using nuclear weapons. Even nuclear weapons with limited capabilities, tactical nuclear weapons. Russia has a sufficient amount of conventional weapons, non-nuclear weapons, in order to attain its goals,” Lukashenko said. He also refuted the rumor, spread by Britain’s Financial Times, that China’s President Xi Jinping had warned Putin against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “One hundred percent fake. I know one and the other. I know China and I know Xi Jinping. He will never do this. Maybe some channel or another is pushing this story, but the fact that Xi warned Putin about not using nuclear weapons, “It’s a fake, it’s a lie. 100% fake!” the head of state stressed. “Now, if there is aggression by NATO, for example, the United States of America or the NATO bloc against Belarus or Russia, which means invading our territory, then our hands are untied—according to the National Security Concept, Russia, including Belarus, which today possesses these weapons, will respond.”
“Will the West come to its senses or not? The West has never recognized anything and will not recognize anything. Especially now. They consider themselves the arbiters of everything,” the Belarusian leader said, “and everything that is decided in Washington is accepted by Europeans, even, surprisingly, to their own detriment. Take Germany. [It was] the fourth economy of the world. Where is it now? And why was it necessary to destroy such a high-tech economy, out of fear or to please someone?” Nevertheless, he predicted that negotiations would be had at some time in the fall, after the Ukrainian “counter-offensive,” regardless of whether it does or does not accomplish any of its goals. “By autumn, the situation should change, and we will start talking at the negotiating table. I don’t want to reveal this information, but Europeans are already talking about it. France, Germany. Europeans stand to lose the most from this war from the material point of view. And only one country benefits from it.” (https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1788170/lukashenko-russia-ukraine-peace-autumn)
