MINSK, June 3. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters on Friday that the Russian leadership had no wish to seize and enslave Ukraine.
"Believe me, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Russia’s military have no wish to seize Ukraine. They just showed that Russia must be reckoned with. Do not insult the President of Russia. Do not crack down on the Russian language, which all Ukrainians speak. Even the nationalistically oriented ones, as some say. There is no wish to enslave, seize, and so on," Lukashenko is quoted by the daily SB Belarus Segodnya as saying.
He believes that "the security of Russia" is the Russian leadership’s prime concern. "I do understand the President of Russia. We discuss topics in different ways, but I can't say anything when he states that not only Russia, but also Belarus is under attack," Lukashenko said. "We need to think about how to defend ourselves, to prevent the emergence of a springboard of aggression."
Lukashenko said he shared the fears of US financier George Soros regarding the start of a third world war, should the conflict in Ukraine get deeper. "If they don't stop in Ukraine now, Soros may turnout to be right. Ukraine is the stopline," Lukashenko said.
On February 24, Putin ordered a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans for an occupation of Ukrainian territories, its goal being the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The United States and its allies responded with large-scale sanctions against Russia and arms supplies to Kiev.