Lukashenka: I need no help, but Russia wants its fighter jets in Belarus


Some Russian mass media distorted Belarus’ suggestion to dispatch more Russian aircraft to Belarus to take part in a joint exercise, Belarus’ President stated at today’s meeting Vladimir Volkov, Head of the Rupublic of Mordovia, and called this misinterpretation ‘unacceptable’.

‘Yesterday some Russian TV channels linked Belarus’ proposal with the situation over Crimea saying that Lukashenka got scared and asked Russia for help and protection. Why are you doing this? Why would you misrepresent it this way?’ state-owned news agency BelTA quotes Mr Lukashenka as saying. ‘You’d better say it is you who have been asking for this [to transfer jet fighters to Belarus – Belsat],’ he stressed.

‘Everything is fine here. You see there is no war here, everything is calm and peaceful. However, if someone in Poland or NATO makes a move against us, we have a plan to respond to it. I offered to Russia to implement it, he added.

It is to be recalled that the Russian Federation’s fighter jets will be transferred to airfields in Belarus under an agreement with Russian authorities.

‘We’ve recently seen the escalation of the conflict and this is a fact. This escalation is no longer in Syria, Libya or Iraq. It is near our borders, it is already affecting our interests, and we have no right to sit like mice under a broom,’ Mr Lukashenka said yesterday and stressed that he had ordered the defense minister to respond in kind to the deployment of about a dozen fighter jets to Lithuania by NATO.

At the same time, Ukraine does not rule out the possibility that Russia will attack it from the territory of Belarus. Ukraine’s army is going to hold war games in the country’s regions which might be the first to face Russian troops (Odessa region, Herson region, Belarus- and Russia-Ukraine border area, liga.net reports referring to its own sources.

www.belsat.eu/en

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