Lukashenko confident in good relations with Lithuania, Poland in the future

Belarus and its neighbors Lithuania and Poland will no doubt restore their ties in the future, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the BelNPP personnel and builders, workers of social infrastructure and residents of Ostrovets on 3 November, BelTA has learned.

One of the questions asked by residents of Ostrovets District concerned the possibility of restoring Belarus' relations with neighboring Poland and Lithuania, especially given the fact that elections have recently taken place in one of these countries, with the other ones to be held soon as well. The Ostrovets District residents asked the president whether it was possible that the voters in Lithuania would be able to make the authorities in Lithuania work in the interests of their state rather than dance to the tune of Washington or Brussels.

“I have absolutely no doubt about it. We will restore our ties with both Lithuania and Poland. The main principle is that neighbors should not be at odds with each other. I always say that neighbors are given to us by God, we cannot pick our neighbors,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “Disagreements happen, but they are all temporal. The times will come when we will live together as we always did, including the Soviet times…”

The head of state emphasized that Belarus was not to blame for the current relations between the countries, although Lithuania, for example, had voiced various claims and complaints, including with regard to the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. “I told them then that we were going to build this plant no matter what. Neither Americans, nor Europeans, no one will prevent us from building it. We decide what to do on our land. And we have built it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Moreover, Belarus has always expressed readiness to hire specialists from Lithuania to work at the NPP and also supply electricity there. “I offered all this to them. But you are right, they are not the ones who run the country,” the president said.


Today Lithuania and Poland are voicing complaints about migrants trying to enter the EU through Belarus. Because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the migrants flow has recently intensified. Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned the matter during his recent meeting with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Peter Szijjarto. The president said then and reiterated it this time that Belarus was not planning to keep migrants heading to the EU on its territory and would not become a buffer zone in Europe, especially after the EU countries have broken off relations with Belarus, including on migration, and imposed sanctions.

The head of state also spoke about the Belarusian visa waiver, the introduction of which was also opposed by the authorities of the neighboring countries, who even started to convince their people that they would be recruited here, although they could not provide any evidence of this, of course.

“They keep making things up, reproaching us for doing something against them. We have no such intention,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The president added that he did not expect any big changes in Poland's policy with Donald Tusk coming to power. Aleksandr Lukashenko called him a pro-European politician, while Law and Justice (PiS) was more of a pro-American party. “This does not mean that tomorrow the policy towards Belarus will change there. We communicate through closed channels, and they impose conditions on me demanding to let someone go. This person broke the law, how can I let him go? There should be certain conditions for this,” the head of state said. “We are a sovereign independent state. We will pursue the policy that is in the interests of our people. That is it. If they are ready to accept this, tomorrow we are ready to shake hands and resume cooperation.”


Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced that sooner or later the neighboring countries will restore relations with Belarus: “We can wait. There is no disaster here. I am not saying that our life is perfect. But if you want to earn a little more for your family, you can do it here. According to the president, much depends on the residents of border regions: “Maintain relations with Lithuanians, Poles, do not quarrel with them. We are one nation in fact.”