Lukashenko: Belarus needs full security guarantees from Russia

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Minsk on 10 April. The Russian defense minister arrived in the Belarusian capital following the recent agreements between the two heads of state, BelTA has learned.

“When parting with Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] after our latest negotiations we agreed that you and your experts will come to Belarus and we will sit down with you to discuss the security issues of Belarus. You know that I raised this issue at the Supreme State Council meeting. But before that, we had discussed it with Vladimir Vladimirovich,” the president said.

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, Western countries do not comply with the agreements on security guarantees, which were given within the framework of the Budapest Memorandum in exchange for the withdrawal of nuclear weapons. “I am talking about the time after 1994, the famous Budapest Memorandum, where all the Western powers and Russia swore to provide full security to Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus. You know, of course, that Western states have trampled all these treaties, agreements and statements and there is no security. It referred to economic security among other things. What kind of economic security is there if they impose sanctions against us, Russia?” the Belarusian leader said. “I raised this issue in talks with the president of Russia. He fully supported me. He said we needed to revise all our treaties and agreements – those of Belarus and Russia - to see what legal act of interstate nature should be adopted now to fully ensure the security of Belarus,” he added.

“In general, it was said at the talks that in case of aggression against Belarus the Russian Federation protects Belarus as its own territory. We need such [security] guarantees,” the president said. “We need full security guarantees from our brotherly Russia,” he added.