Lukashenka calls on Europe to cooperate

Alyaksandr Lukashenka

“You should understand that you will have to cooperate with us unless you want to have tension in you home... and create a territory similar to Chechnya. And as civilized people you will have to acknowledge that the Belarusians also have their own national interests,” the Belarusian leader said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

“We tell you, 'Let's talk, negotiate. And you will see that Belarus, the Belarusian leadership, our country is the best partner you could wish for. We are the most reliable and decent people.”

Mr. Lukashenka vowed that Belarus would set out on a “civilized” path some day but rejected the European Union's conditions for closer contacts as “unacceptable,” saying that Europe should instead learn from Belarus' policies of creating full employment for its people.

The Belarusian leader denied that the country was isolated from the rest of the world.

“Rampant opposition newspapers are freely available in Belarus. Foreign media outlets are 'shooting through' our country in terms of information.”

Mr. Lukashenka attacked the country's opposition. He said that his opponents were outcasts who had failed in government and lived off foreign donations.

“Middle-ranking, well-paid European officials come here, walk around the streets, meet the opposition, collect some data, come up with some criticism of the so-called dictator Lukashenko and go back home,” the Belarusian leader said.
“You are not even cooperating with the opposition, but rather with a group of renegades who were unsuccessful as members of President Lukashenko's team,” he added.

Asked if he would run in Belarus' next presidential elections, Mr. Lukashenka replied:

“May God help me to fulfill in these four years everything I promised the people. If I do that and if my health permits and if I remain the same active, businesslike man ... I have no intention of abandoning political activity. Let me be honest about that.”