The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was “tightly driven” into one team in the political arena, reports TASS .
The Head of State noted that the leaders of the countries also play hockey in the same team.
Earlier on January 5, Lukashenka gave advice to all his haters. “If you do not like the current president, then only elections can solve this issue. Only elections. I say this, no matter how anyone likes it,” he said, speaking to workers of the Minsk plant “Horizon”.
November 24 Lukashenko declared about Belarus’s interest in a multi-vector policy and effective cooperation with other countries, including Western ones. He stressed that economic and political pressure on Minsk from foreign states should be excluded.
Throughout 2019 and the first half of 2020, before the presidential elections, which triggered the start of mass protests in Belarus, Lukashenko has repeatedly stated the need to pursue a multi-vector policy and build independent country. He regularly complained about the “imperial manners” of Russia, criticizing the integration project within the framework of the Union State.
However, in early September, when negotiations began with the Russian leadership over the protests in Belarus, gas and oil prices, a loan of $ 1.5 billion, Lukashenko said that expanding cooperation with EU and the US were the result of a misunderstanding on the part of Russia. “I had to save the country, I had to survive, while I was not understood,” he said.
In Belarus, for the fifth month, mass protests continue, which began after the presidential elections on August 9. Lukashenka, who ran for a sixth term, received 80 percent of the vote, according to official results. The opposition considers the elections to be rigged.