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Lukashenko says Ukraine simply handed Crimea over to Russia, no one fought for it

"There was no war in Crimea," Alexander Lukashenko said

MINSK, December 17. /TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko believes that Ukrainians simply handed Crimea over to Russians and that no one fought for it, he said in an interview with Newsmax TV channel.

"There was no war in Crimea. … In Crimea, there was not a single shot fired by Ukrainians. … No one fought for Crimea. This happened before my eyes. Not a single shot was fired by Ukraine," Lukashenko said.

"If it was your land, why didn’t you defend it? Ukrainians gave it away, they simply handed it over to the Russians. I once said that Russians acted wisely there," he added.

Speaking about the causes of the conflict, Lukashenko noted that it all began with the persecution of the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine. "This policy was elevated to the rank of state policy in Ukraine," the Belarusian leader said.

He also pointed out that if the Ukrainian authorities had genuinely wanted to build a certain language policy, it should have been done calmly and gradually, step by step, over many years. Instead, a decision was made simply to "silence" the Russian-speaking population, the president emphasized.

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Ukraine Belarus Alexander Lukashenko

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