All news

Lukashenko says to respond with iron fist to riots in Belarus

The Belarusian president said that a prisoner release is being discussed with the United States

MINSK, March 13. /TASS/. Any repeat of the 2020 riots that took place in Belarus will be met with the harshest response, President Alexander Lukashenko said commenting on the release of so-called political prisoners in negotiations with the United States.

"I'm telling them here: if someone tries to repeat 2020 - and we were all put through the wringer in 2020 - the reaction will be most severe. Let me add something: the law be damned. I will react to this very harshly," BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

Lukashenko said a prisoner release is being discussed with the United States. "Yes, they want to be released. I jokingly told them, ‘Guys, I understand you, you want to free those whom you once hired to overthrow us,’" he said. "Well, are we going to hold grudges and stand against each other? Times are changing. You have to live. And this is not about me. This is about the country," he said.