Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that Ukraine is unlikely to become a NATO member.
“I’ll tell you honestly: I do not believe that NATO will enter
Ukraine today, tomorrow or in the foreseeable future and that Ukraine
becomes a NATO member,” he said in his annual address to the nation and
parliament in Minsk on Tuesday.
Besides, Russia does not need a war in Ukraine, he said. “I know
which goals Russia is pursuing. Russia is pursuing the goal of
protecting its own interests, including ours, when it says that Ukraine
must be non-aligned, and should not host any foreign armed forces, you
know which. This is bad for us and bad for Russia,” the president said.
“It is the line (NATO forces deployment in Ukraine) that cannot be crossed,” Lukashenko added.
I do not see Belarus as a mediator of the Ukrainian situation, he
said. “They have been saying recently: Lukashenko, Ukraine, Belarus,
mediate on Ukrainian events. We do not need any mediation, we are not
aiming at that,” Lukashenko said.
“If someone wants us to help the Ukrainian people with some ideas, we
could immediately travel there, both you and I, to ensure peace and
quiet on this piece of land because the Ukrainian people has not
deserved what is happening to it,” the president said.
I shall not tolerate mediation, Lukashenko said. “I had enough of
this mediation in my life. I had all kinds of mediators coming to me,
both frozen and frost-bitten, naphthalene-soaked and former politicians.
They offered me their mediation between the European Union and the U.S.
I have always told them: go away, we do not need mediators,” the
president said.
“If someone in the EU and the U.S. wants to talk to us, we can do so without any mediators,” he said.
