Dictator becomes insolent because of impunity

Alyaksandr Lukashenka wants the US to lift sanctions against his regime, and the EU not to make any conditions to him.

Belarus is going to be an equal partner of the EU Eastern Partnership program and to define the level of involvement in the program proceeding from its national interests, Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated in Minsk addressing chiefs of Belarus’ foreign diplomatic missions.

“Belarus is entering the Eastern Partnership not as a petitioner, but as an equal participant. The level of our involvement and conditions of our participation in the program are to be defined proceeding from our national interests, and not from gratitude that we have been invited there,” Lukashenka said.

He underlined that “we welcome the brand new situation in the relations with the EU, but we understand that the dialogue won’t be easy.” He also noted that improvement in the relations between Belarus and the EU is not a result of some “bargaining, over-compromising or PR”. Lukashenka underscored that relations between Belarus and the EU should be built “upon egalitarian basis without any demands and conditions”

Lukashenka believes that as nay other state, Belarus “has its own way forwards, which is on conformity with the degree of its economic and historical development”.

The dictator has stated that Belarus would develop in the way it needs, and “not according to one stereotype, to somebody’s dictation”.

As Lukashenka is convinced, “not the outer democratic shell is important, and not a democracy implanted from outside”.

“Such a democracy which has been implanted hastily is instable, it comes and goes. And the trouble is that such experiments of Michurin do harm to this country, to economy, and in the long run to the nation,” he said. He also stated that “nobody denies that democracy is a right thing”, and expressed an opinion that “Belarus doesn’t have less democracy than its neighbours; the kind of democracy a common man and his family needs daily, not the idle talk at the expense of foreign sponsors”.

Lukashenka turned attention to the fact that “the EU, being guided by new relations with Belarus, and the US administration, haven’t set it as an aim to remove the current regime”.

“It means that an understanding of a possibility to go towards one gaol by different routs has appeared,” he added.

He noted that “we seek to form a real good neighbourhood belt, in economy, politics, freedom of travel, in the wide sense of the word, not only for ourselves, but for Russia and the EU as well”.

As for the relations with the US, the Belarusian dictator has also stated that he would consider full lifting of the economic sanctions by Washington as a signal for full-fledged restoration of mutual diplomatic presence.

“We expect lifting of economic sanctions from the American side. It would be viewed as a signal for full-fledged restoration of mutual diplomatic presence,” Lukashenka said.

Touching upon relations with Russia, Lukashenka said that he considers the “union state” a neverending construction project but not a utopia.

“It’s true, the union state is a neverending construction project, but not a failure or utopia,” he stated.

As said by him, “the choice of Belarus is based upon benefits of the common system of building unique relations with Russia as with an independent state”.

The Belarusian leader believes that at the moment “in Russia reconsideration of its role and methods of work worldwide including cooperation with Belarus is underway”. “We are not going and we cannot hinder this process,” Lukashenka said. Meanwhile, he asked rhetorically: “Why should a single system of security from Brest to Vladivostok be ruined, why should cooperation in the sphere of machine building be ruined?” To his mind, “a threat of graceless great power statehood” has become visible in Russia in relations with Belarus.

Lukashenka has also expressed concern over increased “controversial matters in relations with brotherly Russia”. “Questions have started to emerge more often, and they are getting more and more acute. Besides, logic and consistency of their emergence are discernible,” he stated.