'I'm afraid to say it is war': Lukashenko on Belarus' possible inclusion in Russia

He said this in an interview with the Russian propaganda outlet Izvestia.

Lukashenko noted that the basis of Russian-Belarusian relations is the economy, “so we need to build the economic foundation of this state.” According to him, Belarus and Russia “share a common homeland: from Brest to Vladivostok,” but “it happened, through no fault of our own,” that there are two states. 

“Two sovereign states: Belarus and huge Russia. This is an unshakable law of our time. That's why all the talk about the empire being there, a satellite, not a satellite, about joining Russia, and so on. Put yourself in my place, you would do what, being the president of a sovereign, not to say independent, we depend on each other, a sovereign state that has no borders, which became sovereign through no fault of its own. This state would be destroyed tomorrow. I cannot do this, and no one has authorized me to do so, first of all,” the Belarusian leader commented.

According to him, “any movement of the body of any politician in this direction will be demolished by the Belarusian people”. He emphasized that Belarusians are supposedly the most loyal and reliable people for Russians. 

“You are smaller, we are bigger, and our economy is such and such. We will help you and continue to join Russia. This is not the way to put the question. It is impossible. I'm even afraid to say that this is a war,” Lukashenko said, noting that his relationship with Putin is a lot of negotiations, contacts, personal and otherwise. 

The self-proclaimed president of Belarus noted that the issue has never been this way between him and Putin. 

“I often say that Putin and I are not stupid people. Sorry for the immodesty. But we have enough specialists to build such close relations in the Union State, to create this Union State, and we have set our sights on it,” he said, noting that Belarus and Russia can build relations that are closer and stronger than in a unitary state, ”and no one will be offended by anyone.”

Lukashenko said that Putin allegedly never had the task of conquering anything. 

“Yes, today we can bend and win something, but tomorrow what? Okay, we've won Ukraine, let's say Russia has won Ukraine. What then? Every time you take a step, a smart, wise politician has to think, " What's next? " That's why Putin, as he often says, has never had the task of conquering. We often discuss this issue, we always ask the question “what's next?” Can such a huge country be changed without consequences? No. What do we want to get, that there will always be guerrilla warfare there, and they will commit terrorist acts against us and the Russians? They will do it. Why? Because they will be pushed to do so. They will be brought explosives at any time. These are at least terrorist attacks. That's why the world is like this now, it's not the Middle Ages, when you seized the territory, paid taxes, and it was fine - the world has changed, it's a different world. Therefore, we shouldn't set ourselves silly tasks, and we should always think about what will happen next,” said the self-proclaimed president of Belarus.

• Self-proclaimed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that his country did not authorize Russia to invade Ukraine - they allegedly turned on Kyiv on their own.