Lukashenko: Belarusians will always be good neighbors to Poles

Belarusians do not want Poles to consider them enemies, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko told the media during his working trip to Brest Oblast on 6 October, BelTA has learned.

“We do not want Poles to view us as strangers, enemies. We have never aimed at aggravating relations with Poles, never mind fighting them. We do not need this. We have 200,000-250,000 Poles living here. These are our Poles. I always emphasize this: they are Poles, but they are ‘my' Poles. They do not want to go to Poland, they live here and will be living here. They do not cause any problems,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“We have Poles in power. We do not apply such a principle that if you are a Pole you should not get close to the power,” the president said.

The head of state remarked (jokingly or not) that Brest Oblast Governor Yuri Shuleiko might have had Polish roots. “He is the governor in the west of the country! I have never asked these questions when appointing him to this position. I have always been confident that he is a pro-Belarusian. Even if he has Polish roots (I really do not know, but it is good if he has them), he is an authority, together with Grodno Oblast governor, in our country,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“I am a true internationalist. I do not want Poles to think that Lukashenko is an enemy of Poland. That is how it is presented to the people of Poland. Lukashenko is President of Belarus, and this means that Belarusians are also an enemy of Poland, they say. I do not want them think like that. I want Poles to know what is going on here,” the president said.

It is for this reason that Belarus has introduced a visa waiver for its western neighbors. Their authorities, on the contrary, are trying to convince their people that it is dangerous to come and stay in Belarus. They say that Belarusian special services are recruiting guests from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. “What a nonsense! They cannot think of anything more substantial to use against us. No one is grabbing them at the border to recruit for some purposes. That would be total insanity,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

“People will figure out everything. I do not want to interfere in their elections, but I do not want Poles to think that their enemies live here. We have always been good neighbors to them.”