MINSK, April 20. /TASS/. Minsk is willing to maintain good relations with Kiev but will have to respond if red lines are crossed, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Ukrainian parliament member Yevgeny Shevchenko on Tuesday.

"We won’t seek confrontation with Ukraine on any issue. However, we will have to respond if there is no other way and red lines are crossed," Lukashenko said, as cited by the BelTA news agency. "Still, we don’t want relations with Ukraine to deteriorate because it is not just our southern neighbor, I think that we belong together," he added.

According to Lukashenko, the Belarusian people like Ukrainians. "When the conflict broke out in Donbass, we almost instantly received 150,000 Ukrainians. Some of them later returned home, but many found jobs here. I signed an order granting equal rights to Ukrainians who moved to Belarus, which includes vast social benefits," the Belarusian president stressed, adding: "Our hearts are always open.".