President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko believes that Donbass “is not very necessary for Ukraine.” The politician stated this in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, which aired on the YouTube channel of the “Visiting Gordon” program on Thursday, August 6.
“Donbass is the fifth wheel in the cart and Russia is absolutely unnecessary. Not very much, probably, Ukraine also needs it, ”Lukashenka said.
The politician added that he does not consider Russia an “aggressor”. He expressed a desire for Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to “sit down like a brother and solve” the issue of Donbass.
In addition, the President of Belarus said that he does not see a threat in the presence of Russian bases on the territory of his country. “First, you need to understand what kind of bases they are. These are bases where one and a half Russians work, the rest are Belarusians. This is a base for long-range tracking and detection of missile launches and communications with submarines in the Atlantic over the horizon, ”he said, adding that there are no weapons, except for small arms. “Our people have been sitting there since Soviet times,” he said.
The Belarusian leader confirmed his readiness “now” to promote peace in the south-east of Ukraine.
“If you want peace with the Russians, we can resolve this issue even now. But the further, the more difficult it will be to solve, ”he said.
Lukashenka considers the events of 2014 in Ukraine a coup d’etat.
According to him, Ukrainians were careless about Crimea in 2014. “You had neither the power, nor the desire to return Crimea,” he said.
Earlier, on July 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on fellow citizens to unite to return the territories that the country lost. He stressed that it is necessary to abandon quarrels, manipulations, stop dividing Ukrainians into power and opposition, and come to unity.
Since 2014, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against Donbass, whose residents refused to recognize the results of the coup and the new government in Kiev. The settlement issues are being discussed in the Minsk format and at the meetings of the leaders of the Normandy Four – Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine.
Crimea became part of Russia following a referendum in March 2014. 96.77% of the inhabitants of the peninsula and 95.6% of the voters of Sevastopol voted “for”. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the procedure was held in accordance with international law, but Kiev does not recognize the results of the vote and considers this territory its own.