A dialogue with the West is impossible, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko as he met with top executives of several Russian mass media on 18 March. “To talk to the West, to America? One cannot talk to them and shouldn’t! They are indecent people: they say some things but think different things,” said the Belarusian head of state.
Alexander Lukashenko recalled the visit of the ministers of foreign affairs of Germany and Poland to Belarus on the eve of the election. “I am concerned why two ministers of foreign affairs asked me for a meeting on the eve of the election. There was something wrong with it. I don’t understand why they had to come to me,” said the President.
“We talked, a peaceful conversation. They said we understand and support you and so on. Now I know why they arrived on the eve of the election: they had to lull me.”
According to the head of state, there was a plot. “I never thought that the fifth column (800 people, including 400 militants, we know all of them and they stay in Minsk only spending foreign money), I never thought that this fight, this attempt at pogrom can happen”.
“Why did we detain these? We wanted to clarify who they are and where the money came from,” said the head of state, adding that unfortunately, there had been Russian money, too. Alexander Lukashenko also refuted claims that KGB tortures people: “Don’t tell me they have been tortured in Belarus and so on. How can one arrive at such idiotic conclusions? Nowadays in the center of Europe? And what for?”
“Why all the tension in Poland and Germany? We named our facts, go ahead and examine them. They don’t want to,” said Alexander Lukashenko.
“You know the great West astounds me. They are ready to allocate €87 million via certain foundations. Taxpayers’ money went into a fund. The fund earned something for itself. Then the money went via Lithuania, Poland, partially via Ukraine to Belarus. When the fifth column in Belarus got the money, they were left with something like 10% (we’ve calculated previous times). Everything else had been siphoned off. It is their business, their way of commerce,” said the President of Belarus.
Alexander Lukashenko believes that the Belarusian opposition is nothing but a fifth column. “This is not an opposition, it is a fifth column. Why? Let’s have a look at communists in Russia. Do they say that sanctions should be introduced against Russia? Do they say that Russia should be surrounded by nuclear weapons to put pressure on the Russians that support Putin and Medvedev? In Belarus the opposition cries out for sanctions! This is why they are a fifth column and no opposition”.
According to the head of state, in Russia they thought that Lukashenko had been flirting with the West and had turned his policy towards the West. “What rubbish! I understand and I said several days before the election that I am totally not welcome in the West. I am ideologically a foreign person to them. They will never accept me. I cannot sing to their tune. I’ve always said it openly and honestly. And I think it is normal,” said Alexander Lukashenko.
Yet the President believes that the volume of trade with the West cannot be ignored. At present the West accounts for 48% in Belarus’ trade, Russia accounts for 45%. “Can I ignore that half the trade involves the European Union and America? I cannot. Today we use US dollars and euro even in bilateral payments with Russia,” he said.
“This is why everything was complicated although it seemed okay on the outside. But we’ve got to learn that we can never stop being vigilant. We will never be left alone. We clearly understand it and this is why we rely on our own power. We will never have a simple life,” concluded the head of state.
