MINSK, September 16. /TASS/. Belarus is not a threat to anyone, but it is ready and able to defend itself against invaders, President Alexander Lukashenko said at a state awards ceremony on the eve of National Unity Day.
"We are not a threat to anyone. However, I want to tell [Secretary of the State Security Council] Alexander Grigoryevich Volfovich to stop making excuses to them: 'Whether we are fighting against them or not.' We've told them once, and that's enough. I think they’ve heard us. They're not fools, they understand everything. We dont' have to repeat ourselves over and over. We are capable of responding to any aggressor. We're not on some conquest over someone, we can't do that. We are well aware of this. There are strong states around us, that's the way it is. But we are always ready to inflict unacceptable damage if someone sets foot on our land," BelTA news agency quoted the head of state as saying.
Lukashenko also said that Minsk has nothing to do with the drones that entered Poland or Lithuania.
"Everything that has been flying into Poland and Lithuania today – we have nothing to do with it. And if we had howled the way they howl after every drone that comes into our territory from Ukraine, Russia, through Poland, Lithuania <...> we never did that. We respond calmly and in due course," he said.
"They started howling after we shot down half of the drones, not knowing whose they were, which ones. Shot down and that's it. We couldn't hit a few of them. We’ve spent huge money to destroy these drones, which were not heading to us, but were heading to Poland. And they were told how many drones were flying and where they were going. We also didn't know whose they were: "So handle it!". They acknowledge this. Still, they are bitching. This means they’re plotting something. It’s our job to figure out what that is. And we have. And we must resist this. Without any explanations to anyone."
Lukashenko noted that Belarus should learn how to deflect any drone operating at any frequency from its target.
"This is our training, we have to be able to do it. The world has learned this. This is our task. Besides [launching] missiles, exploding, hitting, you need to be able to defend yourself. As soon as we learn how to work drones, an entire era will instantly disappear into oblivion. And we will stop praying for these drones," the president told developers in the military industry.