MINSK, September 1. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed Tuesday that he turned to the US and Europe, because he could not find understanding in Russia but had to ensure Belarus’s survival.

"This is purely a media’s invention that Lukashenko has turned to the West. Yes, I indeed conducted a multi-vector policy, as much as it was possible. Do you think I don’t realize that this Europe and, even more so, America needs me not in a thousand years? But I had to save the country, had to survive, while I found no understanding [in Russia]," he said, according to BelTA news agency.

He added that Belarus has never turned away from Russia, although it was forced to look for alternatives during economic disputes - in the oil market in particular.

The Belarusian leader underscored that Minsk is forced to conduct a multi-vector policy in any situation.

In his August 4 address to the people and the Parliament, Lukashenko claimed that Belarus "does not make friends with someone against someone else."

"We advocate multiple vectors, a consistent, predictable foreign policy. Russia was, is and will be our closest ally, whomever runs either Belarus or Russia," he said.

At the same time, the president added, Belarus will "build relations of strategic partnership with the West, with the US, with China," as well as with its neighbors and countries of the "remote arc" of Belarusian foreign policy.