Belarus does not want to quarrel with the European Union and wants to “be friends with it, as was the case in the past,” Aliaksandr Lukashenka said Tuesday in Minsk while meeting with a large group of Russian provincial journalists.
The Belarusian leader noted that he would like Russia to be an “absolutely reliable partner.” He added that “partner” was the Russian leadership’s term. “We are not just partners, we are kindred people and should live like kindred people and kindred states,” he said.
Belarus “maintains relations with all republics that were once part of the Soviet Union” and does not create problems for its neighbors, “although not all are happy with what is going on, especially Poland and some other states, whose fingers are itching, but I guess we’ll survive this,” Aliaksandr Lukashenka said.
“We don’t suffer from any global ambitions,” he said. “We’ve defined our foreign policy as a multi-vector policy.”
“We don’t set ourselves any geopolitical objectives,” he said. “We clearly realize our place in this world system. That is why we are not ill with any global ambitions, although major media outlets in Russia, even in Russia, reproach me of claiming a role in solving the world’s political problems. This is by no means the case. If we are asked to get involved, we get involved. If we see that we can do good, we get actively involved in one process or another. If we see that this will not bring any good, we don’t get in as this should not be done for propaganda purposes. We are not a country that should deal with this. This is the basis for our clearly determined strategy for external economic activities and foreign policy.”
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