Belarus President Says Russia Should Launch Operation in Ukraine in 2014

President Lukashenko said the conflict in Ukraine began before 2014 and that it was Russia and Belarus' "mistake" not to resolve the issue sooner.

"I completely agree with Russian President Vladimir Putin that we did not start this war. The conflict began even before 2014. We have seen everything that happened, from the protests that overthrew the government of President Viktor Yanukovich to the current situation in Ukraine," Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting of security leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Minsk on June 1.

According to Mr. Lukashenko, the war was bound to break out sooner or later. "Even if Moscow had not launched the operation a year ago, the conflict would have been inevitable, but under even worse conditions for Russia and Belarus," he said.

The Belarusian president said the "only mistake" of Moscow and Minsk was to continue trying to resolve the conflict through diplomacy, instead of launching an operation in Ukraine earlier. "We should have solved the problem in 2014-2015, when Ukraine had neither the army nor the will," Mr Lukashenko said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting at the Kremlin, Russia on May 25. Photo: AFP — Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting at the Kremlin, Russia on May 25. Photo: *AFP*

The Belarusian leader said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as his two predecessors Petro Poroshenko and Yanukovich, had done nothing to ensure "peaceful existence" for the people. According to him, the Ukrainian leaders "did not want war", but seemed to have been pushed into it and the West openly admitted that diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis were only a temporary solution to arm and train the Ukrainian army.

“They frankly admit that they did everything to prepare Ukraine for a war with Russia,” Mr Lukashenko said, referring to comments by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande, who said the Minsk agreements, signed in 2014 and 2015 to establish peace in Donbass, were a “time-buying measure” to build up Ukraine’s forces.

The Belarusian president also accused the West of preparing a violent coup in the country and claimed to have evidence of it. He said the West was urging the Belarusian opposition to engage in armed violence and funding such activities.

The West and Ukraine have not yet responded to the Belarusian President's statement.

President Lukashenko is a close ally of President Putin and the two countries have close military ties. Minsk allowed Moscow to use its territory to send troops into Ukraine when fighting broke out in February 2022. The West has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia and Belarus, including removing some banks from the SWIFT international payment system, restricting trade and sanctioning a range of officials.

Huyen Le (According to RT , BBN )

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