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Dictator: Don't press me over Crimea

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Dictator: Don't press me over Crimea

Lukashenka's press conference for the Russian media lasted for nearly six hours.

More than 100 journalists from 50 Russia's regions spent almost a week in the Vitebsk region to study Belarus's social and economic development. Lukashenka met with the press today. The situation of Ukraine was the key topic of the meeting.

About Ukraine

Belarus will devotedly honor commitments to Russia while keeping its own point of view. Lukashenka made the statement at the press conference.

According to him, when some in Russia started saying that Belarus does not back Russia's view on Ukraine, he stated that if Russia requests Belarus' support, Belarus will provide it. “Belarus and Russia are allies and we will devotedly honor our commitments. It is our point of view. Yet we may have our own point of view on other matters and this point of view may be different from Russia's. Still we are strategic partners and allies. And we cannot allow situations when someone suffers and we just look at it indifferently. It won't happen,” he stated.

Speaking about Belarus' cooperation with other countries, the head of state remarked that events in Ukraine provided the reason for the West to start making steps towards Belarus. “It seems that our view on Ukraine gave an incentive and an opportunity for sensible people in the West and in America to declare cooperation with us. And they were the ones to grab the opportunity. It didn't happen because we changed ourselves or changed our policy. Belarus and events in the world brought about the situation when it is indecent to thrash Belarus and wipe off feet on the country. Nobody would understand such moves even in the West,” stressed Lukashenka.

“It's your own fault”

Lukashenka recalled his conversation with Ukrainian journalists after the inauguration of Ukraine's president-elect Petro Poroshenko.

“I told them: Guys, do you think Crimea belongs to you? Why then didn't you fight for your Crimea? Why did you surrender it to Russia without a single shot? Doesn't it mean that you don't consider this territory to be yours? Why then did you point the edge of your revolution at our people, the Russians and Russian-speaking Belarusians? Why did you begin to ban the language? Didn't you have other problems? Did you want to deploy Nato regiments in Crimea?” Lukashenka said.

“Don't look for reasons in Russia. Look for them in your country. You [Ukraine] at least gave Russia reason to take over Crimea. It's your own fault, not Russia's,” Lukashenka added.

He thinks it would be a mistake to think that “Khrushchev did the wrong thing by giving Crimea to Ukraine, so it must be returned [to Russia] now,BelaPAN reports.

“Even if it were true, the territorial integrity was guaranteed in 1994. It is unacceptable for any state to violate the territorial integrity that was guaranteed, to seize a part of any country,” Lukashenka emphasised.

Answering a journalist's remark that Belarus can soon lose its role of a mediator in the Ukrainian crisis because the country will have to de-jure recognise the annexation of Crimea, Lukashenka said: “You gave the answer to your question. Don't press me over Crimea and you will always have a mediator. Do not press me over Crimea in the way you did over Abkhazia.”

He explained that the West and the US were ready to impose sanctions on Belarus if it had recognised Abkhazia, and Russia was not ready to protect Belarus. “Don't bother us with trifles if you need us as a mediator,” Lukashenka repeated.

He noted that many Russian businessmen were afraid of even saying the word “Crimea”.

About EEU

Integration in the Union State and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should be more efficient, Lukashenka told.

“The EEU is a purely economic union. At present we have not yet reached even half of the level of integration we have in the Union State. People of Belarus and Russia have almost equal rights. The countries have developed a united defense space. We work together in education, healthcare, other areas” he noted.

According to Lukashenka, the EEU Treaty provides for the lesser level of integration than the Customs Union. “I spoke to Putin and Nazarbayev about this. They did not like it. We reproached our partners for sidestepping the Customs Union principles: Russia – “because oil and gas are expensive things”, Kazakhstan – for some of its principles. Why start this customs, economic union if you are afraid of it,” he wondered.

With all integration processes in the union of the two states, Alexander Lukashenka believes that people of Belarus and Russia are not satisfied with the status of implementation of the Union State Treaty. “We need these processes to be faster, more efficient. People want to see benefits of this union,” he stressed.

The Belarusian leader believes that the main principle of building any union is equality of the member states. “We should have held a referendum on the future Union State Constitution that would speck every single issue: territory, authority and parliament. Russia was not ready for it. We negotiated the single currency. It should have been an independent single currency, the same as in Europe. The emission center should be based on equal conditions. All the issues should be addressed in the interests of the two nations. Russia wanted the emission center in St Petersburg or Moscow, and the Central Bank to be in charge of everything. What equality is it? We failed to create the fundamentals of our future integration back then and today these processes are much slower than we expect them to be,” the dictator said.

“Yanukovych is to blame for coup in Ukraine”

Former Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych is the one to blame for the anticonstitutional coup in the country, Lukashenka told.

“There was an anticonstitutional coup there. Who is to blame for it? Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych. Only him,” the Lukashenka said.

He stressed that he had told the then acting President Alexander Turchinov that the events in Ukraine were nothing but an anticonstitutional coup.

Speaking about the Maidan, Alexander Lukashenko said: “Do you remember the shooting? When there are clashes, it is hard to understand who shoots and for what purpose,” he said. The President of Belarus added that an information war is currently underway and everyone tries to capitalize on the situation. The Belarusian leader stressed that the events in Ukraine have caused huge human losses which exact scale is still unknown. “Sooner or later people will learn the truth,” he said.

About "Belarusian" shrimps in Russia

Belarus is not engaged in the re-export of any banned food products to Russia, Lukashenka told a press conference for the Russian regional mass media.

“Re-export is impossible. It is closely tracked,” the head of state underlined. At the same time the President stated that Belarus can buy and process the banned food products and sell them to the Russian market.

Belarus purchased and processed products from the west before, for instance Lithuanian milk. “The volume was insignificant as our processing companies operated at almost 100% of their capacities. Since the time Russia imposed the embargo the Lithuanian milk has accounted for 0.84% of our total dairy exports to Russia.

Commenting on the recent statements in mass media that Belarus re-exports banned products, the President said that “this empty-headed propaganda and pressure on Belarus is totally in the interests of lobbyists, swindlers who produce similar products in Russia today.”

“I was ready to go very far”

Speaking about Belarus' plan to deal with the Ukrainian conflict, the plan that was once accepted neither by the West nor by Russia, Lukashenka remarked: “I was ready to go very far. I was even ready to use my armed forces in order to separate the warring parties,” he said. The Belarus President went on saying that the measure could have been used at the very start of the conflict.

In his words, now Ukraine's southeast “is such a mess, there is nobody to talk to over there”. He stressed that sending the troops now, even for peaceful purposes would be too risky because forces, which are not accountable to anyone and are impossible to control, are now involved in the conflict.

The head of state remarked that Belarus' peace plan for resolving the crisis in Ukraine had been suggested for consideration of the sides, however, it turned out to be unnecessary because some players in the geopolitical space wanted a war. Addressing the reporters, Alexander Lukashenka said: “If I could specify details of this plan, you would understand but I pledged my head for this plan”.

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