Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko commented on the statements of Russian intelligence, assuring there is no force capable of detaching Belarus from Russia.
“Today I received a message: someone in Russia says that someone is trying to detach Belarus from Russia. I won’t even comment. I’ll say only one thing: there is no force that is currently capable of detaching Belarus from Russia, or Russia from Belarus. The circumstances have developed in such a way that they have tied us together, probably for many, many decades and centuries. Although, in general, there is nothing to fault us for – Belarus – we have always oriented toward Russia. There is much of ours there, if not everything. Our resources there, our market there, if we speak about the economy. We have complete unity in this regard. And in the political sphere”
– BelTA
Context of Lukashenko’s statements
Last week Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service published a warning about alleged Western plans to use Belarus as a platform for implementing a “color revolution” scenario.
Recently, the Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council Alexander Volfovich also reacted to Moscow’s statements that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland allegedly are preparing a new attempt to change the constitutional order in Belarus.
“Nothing new. None of the governments – Poland, Lithuania, Latvia – are engaging in constructive dialogue, do not want to pursue normal international practice, as is customary in the world: through the foreign ministries they find ways to resolve the problematic issues that exist between the two states. We do not infringe on the interests of Poland and the Baltic states, we do not dictate to them how to live. And we do not need to dictate to them”
– Alexander Volfovich
Reaction and consequences
Ultimately, official statements from both sides focused on supporting close cooperation between Belarus and Russia and on confirming the intention to continue joint interaction within the framework of mutual respect and shared interests.