MINSK, February 14. /TASS/. Minsk is not involved in the worsening of bilateral relations with Ukraine and pursues a clear policy in this field, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday.
"Once again, I want to tell you publicly that we have nothing to do with the aggravation of our relations," he said at a meeting with Ukrainian politician Alexander Moroz. "We have been pursuing a clear, understandable policy for the Ukrainian people," BelTA agency cites Lukashenko as saying. "I still stick to this policy. We are a close-knit people, we are neighbors. <...> Our future should develop like that of neighbors," he stressed.
Lukashenko stressed that Belarus never intended to invade Ukraine, and that there were no such plans at present. "This nonsense about Lukashenko being ready to invade Ukraine, look, I never needed it, nor do I need it now. But what your authorities are doing against Belarus is impossible to figure out, it boggles the mind," he pointed out.
The Belarusian leader stated that in previous years he had made a great deal of efforts to build a dialogue between the Ukrainian and Russian leadership and resolve the conflict. "We agreed on many things. And Poroshenko agreed [too]. But later the "No" command came from across the ocean, and he backed down. There would have been no war in Donbass now. Putin promised money to restore Donbass. People would have lived in peace. [But] no. What kind of politics is this?" the president argued.