After meeting with Putin, Lukashenko again sharply rejected reunification with Russia
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko denies that a Russian military base will be created in Belarus. He also assures that the reunification of Russia and Belarus is not being discussed.
Old Man told reporters about this today, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Their reasoning: “ah, Lukashenko has been driven into a corner, there is nowhere to go, everything has been swallowed up by Russia!” There was no even talk about it. And today they want to push us down this path. If I went, as they promised, to sell or give up Belarus - well, listen, it would be a gift for them. But we don’t need this, I’ve already said it many times.
I am the first president of our independent Belarus. Which Lukashenko can go against this and destroy it, or hand it over to someone, or annex it somewhere? I'm most interested in us being independent. That’s why we didn’t talk about any bases,” Lukashenko said.
He repeated his old idea that Russia does not need to spend money on creating a new air base, because planes from Smolensk can quickly fly to Bobruisk at any time.
At the same time, Lukashenko made it clear that he does not see the creation of a foreign military base in Belarus as something that fundamentally violates sovereignty.
“Listen, why are we worried that there will be someone’s bases in Belarus? Russian, Chinese, Japanese, maybe someone else... What? Whose bases are in Germany? American. And in Poland, in Romania, whose bases? American! So you are telling us that we will lose our independence or something else. You have already created them. You have them there. They are simply afraid that, God forbid, they might come to an agreement with the Russians and join our military efforts. But we didn’t even talk about it,” Lukashenko said.
Liberal political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky believes that Lukashenko was going to give Russia permission to create a base after Belomaidan, but changed his mind when he felt safe.
“It was necessary to create a base in Belarus only in order to demonstratively save A.G. Lukashenko. At his own request/opinion. And if it’s not necessary, then it’s not necessary,” Belkovsky wrote in his Telegram channel.
Hints that Lukashenko discussed the creation of a military base in Moscow during negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin were made on the eve of this event by political scientists close to the Belarusian leader.
The airfield in Machulishchi was named as a probable location. Now they are changing the runway slabs there. In Soviet times, a heavy bomber regiment and a mixed air defense squadron were located there.
In March, military personnel of Belarus and Russia practiced elements of a joint landing in Machulishchi.
All these events made observers in Ukraine very nervous.
Earlier, Lukashenko proposed considering the issue of joint duty with the participation of Russian aircraft, using the experience of 2014, when the World Hockey Championship was held.
In 2019, Russia offered Belarus to create its own air force base. However, Minsk rejected this proposal. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called it an “unpleasant episode.”
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