President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko claims that he spoke very sharply with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about the possible annexation of Belarus to Russia.
He spoke about this today at a meeting with Ukrainian journalists in Minsk, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I will open this curtain. When we discussed this problem with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin - I raised it - I told him directly: if in your government or you have the idea that we can become part of Russia or somehow unite with the Russian Federation into one state , get it out of your head. Purely emotional. I am the first president of the first independent state in history not to build it and include it somewhere. He says: God bless you, we don’t even have such a thought,” Lukashenko said.
He is outraged by nationalists' claims that he might surrender the country's sovereignty and independence.
“It’s complete stupidity, I don’t care about my power and so on. Listen, I've been president for 25 years. Should I, in the 26th year of my presidency, put an end to not only the 25-year-old independent Belarus, which I manage here as best I can, but in general the dreams of all Belarusians who have dreamed of being independent for centuries. We were trampled under the whip. Now we are sovereign and independent. Am I supposed to hand the Belarusians over to someone again? I don’t care about all this power and so on. I don’t hold on to this chair enough to give up the country,” Lukashenko said.