MINSK, August 8. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko sees it as possible that the United States could provoke Minsk to enter the Ukraine conflict as a "warring party," something it is more than capable of doing.
He made the statement in an interview with America’s Time magazine, broadcast on the First Information TV channel.
"Russia, in its fight against Ukraine, [has mobilized]. We are not participants in this war, we did not mobilize or overexert ourselves. But if – and this is a big danger, which your [US President Donald] Trump and America above all underestimates – you push us to the point where we will have to mobilize as a warring party. There are examples – the Great Patriotic War, when the entire Soviet Union mobilized," Lukashenko told Time magazine.
The president assured the interviewer that there are enough resources to mobilize human and economic resources in Russia and Belarus.
"During the war, this is primarily the military-industrial complex, we have enough of this stuff and we can do a lot. Yes, you have more advanced missiles there to some extent, I’ll give you that. But what we have is enough to wage a modern war in Ukraine," Lukashenko said.
He admitted that problems in Russia’s economy carry some risk for Belarus too, "but it’s not that we are already on our knees, and that won’t happen, because we, together with Russia, can mobilize."
He stressed that mobilization will be as much mental as anything else.
"It is important that mobilization takes place not only in the economy, but also in the minds. If this happens, then it smacks not only of the war in Ukraine. Because once we harness that, we’re moving fast. Don't push it to this point, this is why I told the Americans, when we discussed this topic: Guys, let's strike a deal now, let's make sure that we sit down and agree not only on a truce, but on peace."