Minsk - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has welcomed the signature of a protocol on a ceasefire between the Ukrainian government forces and their armed opponents in eastern Ukraine at a session of a contact group for Ukraine in Minsk on Sept. 5.
“The conflict in the Slavic state close to us has been the most disturbing and the most discussed one on the international agenda of late, as not only regional but also international security has been called into question. It could be said without exaggeration that war loomed at the doorstep of our common European home,” Lukashenko said in a statement circulated by his press service on Sept. 6.
The Belarusian leader praised the Russian and Ukrainian presidents’ initiatives and proposals.
“It is precisely due to their principled top-level agreements they achieved on Minsk soil at the end of August that the peace process was started,” he said.
“The Customs Union-Ukraine-European Union communication format has made it possible to involve parties really interested in peace on Ukrainian soil and in Europe in the negotiating process. The Kazakh president’s proposals on settling the conflict were very important and timely. Without any doubt, it would have been impossible to achieve truce in the eastern districts of Ukraine without hard efforts of the leaders of the key EU countries,” Lukashenko said.
The contact group for Ukraine has played an exclusively important role in this process, Lukashenko said.
“It has done truly titanic work and reached an accord on issues the resolution of which seemed absolutely impossible some time ago. The contact group’s work deserves true gratitude and appreciation,” he aid.
Lukashenko called the reaching of the ceasefire accords one of the few achievements in which “the OSCE also played precisely the role for which it was set up and made its specific contribution to ensuring regional peace and security.”
“We are proud that this peaceful process was started in Minsk, on Belarusian soil. We will continue to do all we can in the name of peace in the brotherly country. Our peoples suffered enough in the wars of the past century and wouldn’t like such sufferings to come again in this century,” he said.
“The news about the achievement of ceasefire agreements has been taken with joy and hope everywhere. However, we should clearly understand that this is only the first step on a long and difficult path,” Lukashenko said. “A lot of unexpected obstacles have yet to be overcome so that the Minsk peace process should become irreversible and unalterable,” he said.
The Belarusian president said he is convinced that “the contact group work needs to be continued, and perhaps it’s necessary to invest it with more powers and upgrade its level to successfully put into practice all agreements that have been achieved.”
“All the parties concerned should stop and think now. Think about the future of their country and people. Not a devastating war but only a peaceful creative work can ensure the state’s and ordinary people’s wellbeing,” Lukashenko said. “An armed fratricidal conflict in our dear Ukraine remains a grave maiming injury on the Ukrainian people’s body. But this will be forgotten over time. The people will remember those who managed to turn the wheel of the war toward peace,” he said.
