MINSK, August 27. /TASS/. Belarus is currently going through a very difficult period, which has been caused by the ongoing developments in Ukraine and the West's plans to destabilize the situation in the country, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Tuesday.

"We live in a complicated period of time. I am not talking about the war to the south. About what those crazies in the West are preparing for us. We have to keep it on the radar," Belarusian news agency BelTA cited Lukashenko as saying during his speech at the Nationwide Conference on Teaching in Minsk.

"In this situation we need to turn the country, this large country, from the West towards the East," Lukashenko continued. "It is necessary to make sure that we are welcome in the East."

"Thank god we’ve managed to accomplish it but it is exceedingly hard work," the Belarusian president noted. "I want you to understand that the country is going through a very hard period, it is a do-or-die situation."

Addressing the Belarusian teachers at the conference, Lukashenko said "we are in the same boat… The situation is very complicated. There has never been such complexity around Belarus as there is now."

"We need to keep the country together. We all want to be sovereign and independent. We all must think how to keep it, and be ready for it. Everything starts with us, teachers," Lukashenko added.