Lukashenko comments on next presidential election in Belarus

In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he has not yet decided whether he will run for president in the next election, BelTA has learned.

“I haven't made any decisions yet, honestly. Perhaps it may look like some kind of couldn't-care-less attitude on my part, but I have so many issues to solve right now. As soon as the time comes to make a decision, I will do it. Right now, I need to make sure the country holds out in the current situation, does not get involved in a mess, as people say. I have to guide my people on this very thin, fragile ice, so that we don't fall through. This is the most important thing for me now. Both my future and the future of the next government depend on this. This is what I am doing right now. Honestly, I have not thought about it, and even in my family circle we have not discussed this topic. It is not the time to think about it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

During the interview Diana Panchenko shared her impressions of Minsk. She said that she liked the atmosphere of order and security in the city. She expressed her hope that Belarusians understood the main value and their main resource - peace.

“I have a question (and maybe you have an answer): what will happen to all this without Lukashenko?” Diana Panchenko asked.


Very soon the country will have elections to the parliament and the Belarusian People's Congress. The president said he would do everything to help Belarusians determine their future. “I will be persuading my people. I will be telling my people the truth. Our people themselves understand what can happen. They understand that we can lose this island of peace and tranquility,” he said.

“Every time I come to Minsk, I see well-maintained streets and perfect roads. Walking around Minsk I sometimes get the impression of being in Kiev, the one it could have been and the one it once used to be. Although the cities may not be alike, but the feeling is exactly the same,” Diana Panchenko said. “Putting it simply, what and when did we do wrong?”

“Things went wrong when you started plundering Ukraine. If you want to preserve the integrity of the country, there must be unity, there must be a core. First of all, a state one, like we have. We are always criticized for this vertical of power, ‘dictatorship' and so on. But it is precisely this and, as you call it, dictatorship, discipline, and order that contributed to the consolidation of the entire nation. We managed to explain everything to our people, to tell them what should be done, including today. I often say: if you do not want to fight like Ukraine, let us work hard in the fields. People hear me,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Ukraine started to fall apart when oligarchs began getting the best pieces, the president said. According to him, this created numerous centers of power, including those supported by security and law enforcement agencies. It was difficult for the government to resist it.

“Ukraine ended up divided. You began to play in democracy, elect all kinds of people, re-elect. You eroded the responsibility by such actions of yours. Everything however started with your thoughtless privatization. You dismantled Ukraine and hurt people. Ukrainians were terribly dissatisfied with that situation. Everything started from there. The economy was the backbone for everything,” the head of state is convinced. “You have destroyed the richest, most beautiful country.”


Then the oligarchs went into politics and brought certain people to the country's highest posts. “When a politician has a lot of money in his pocket, he is not independent,” the Belarusian leader said.

“Haven't you ever thought of buying a yacht and going to Monaco?” the journalist asked.

“I have never had such thoughts. I am not that kind of person at all. A yacht, the heat, the sun – it is not my thing. It's better to go to the mountains in winter. There is no better place than Sochi. We have a governmental base, a hotel there. I don't need anything else,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “I hate money, as I grew up in a poor family and always lacked it. I am a different person by nature. I can find my happiness at home, in Belarus.”