There will be no Maidan in Belarus, Aliaksandr Lukashenka said, speaking at a reception given for the top brass of the Belarusian Armed Forces and the law enforcement and state security agencies on the occasion of Fatherland Defenders`Day.
“Maidan is unacceptable for us; moreover, there will be no Maidan in Belarus,” Mr Lukashenka said. “For us and you, military people, it is a sacred duty and task to preserve peace and stability in our land.”
“We have common goals with regard to Ukraine,” the Belarusian leader stressed. “Ukraine should be one country. No one should split up this great country. It is not alien to us. That is why one should not worry that something similar to what has happened there may happen in our country. We should worry that our people there are experiencing this grave crisis. This is very hard and just the beginning.”
“Maidan is no news to us,” Mr. Lukashenka said. “It is not for the first time that this has happened. You know I am still on friendly terms with the first Maidan leaders, Viktor Yushchenko and others. They have their problems and we have ours. And our policy will be based on this. They have their own state and we have ours.”
“There was an attempt to do something similar in Belarus in 2010,” he said. “Now our people have realized what could have happened if we had shut our eyes to that. But we did not pour water on them. We did not apply tear gas and did not do any bodily harm to anyone. But if you touch a military man, a policeman, a special task police officer, who tries to separate you, the response will be instant. How can I allow a military man to be spat in the face, not to speak of being killed? That is why you should not worry. We have not taken anything away from each other. We have not stolen anything from anyone. We have created nothing luxurious at someone else’s expense. People were driven to such a state there [in Ukraine]. Some people have given up and think things cannot get worse.”
