MINSK, August 8. /TASS/. Russia has never pushed Belarus toward plunging into the conflict with Ukraine because it's aware that could trigger the deployment of NATO troops to Ukraine, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said.

"Russia understands perfectly well that if we get involved in this war openly, we will have more problems. We have a 1,500-kilometer border with Ukraine. <…> Russia understands that we will hardly be able to control this border, bearing in mind that not only the Ukrainians will be fighting along these 1,500 kilometers. This will be a pretext to deploy NATO troops to Ukraine. <…> And in this case, we will have to fight against NATO forces and Russia will have to back Belarus along these 1,500 kilometers," he said in an interview with the US Time magazine that was aired by Belarus’ 1st Information TV channel.

Under such a scenario, in his words, Belarus will be exposed to missile strikes. "Belarus is not the Urals, it's very close, just 200 kilometers away. We understand this and the Russians understand this. It's not North Korea - it's just two minutes away," he explained.

Lukashenko recalled that the West criticizes Belarus for holding joint drills with the Russia military. "I told the Americans straight that we are not going to fight and cross the border. We are helping the Russians as we are Russia’s ally, both legally and actually," he said.