Republic

MINSK DISTRICT, 30 December (BelTA) – The negative evaluation of the outcome of the presidential election in Belarus had been prepared in advance, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko told reporters on 30 December, BelTA has learnt. The President was asked what path the independent Belarus will follow in years to come and how it will build the relations with western and eastern partners against the political background that emerged after the opposition riots of 19 December. The President noted that Belarus has been independent for over 15 years already. “Can you remember any normal external political or economic background? We have always had problems, and not only we had these problems,” Alexander Lukashenko said. The Belarusian head of state explained it by the emergence of 15 new states out of one, “though there was no place for them”. “Someone had to make room, and still some states have to make room in this tight world. All the problems stem from this. Nobody, be it Russia, Poland or Germany, needs another succesfull sovereign and independent state. We need it. This underpins the major disagreements. One can always find a pretext to bend a country, especially Belarus,” the head of state said. Commenting on the negative evaluation of the election outcome, Alexander Lukashenko said, “You, just like me, have felt that we have grown so democratic that it’s the limit. We know the objective assessment of our election. They came to Belarus with the text they had written before. I will tell you honestly, I had read this text a month before the election was held. Well, a bit better than in the previous years.” This is why, the President believes, “they had to find something to justify this negative evaluation.” The events that took place in Minsk on 19 December provided a good pretext. “But, first, this happened after the election, second, what does it have to do with the voting, for example? Nothing. But they wanted it so badly, they had planned it a long time ago. The major lesson I have learnt is that they (the West – BelTA’s note) do not want us at all. They want to see us weak. The weak will never be successful. They respect only strong countries. We will not be weak,” the President said. “If they are ready to see a strong Belarus in the center of Europe, we will be happy to cooperate. If they are looking for a reason to stay counterproductive and confrontational , we will not be able to change them. This is why it is up to them. Time will show,” Alexander Lukashenko concluded.

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