MINSK, August 2. /TASS/. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarusians do not need war, but are always ready to stand up for their land if things take a turn for the worse.

"Thousands of people die in war. That's why we don't need war. This is my question. If there are problems, I will turn to you, and we will take up arms and defend the land. But it's better not to fight, and we don't want war," he told residents of a town called Prudok located in the Gomel Region, the BelTA agency reported.

"If we work and have no questions to each other, believe me, there will be no war," Lukashenko said. "It all depends only on you, not on me. You see that we are trying in every possible way to prevent this plague (war - TASS) from coming here."

He said when Ukraine moved its troops to the border of Belarus, "we put our own army to face them."

"When they withdrew their troops, we pulled them back too. We are not at war. We don't want to fight," Lukashenko said.