Belarus will not intervene in Ukraine, says Lukashenko

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday again rejected the possibility of his country’s army intervening in the conflict in Ukraine, but said he had reinforced the western border with five additional battalions and put its air defense systems on alert.
“The Belarusian army did not and will not participate in hostilities. We will not participate in the ‘special operation’ (Russia’s term for invasion) in Ukraine. National Council of Ministers, as reported by the official news agency “Belta”.
He commented that the western border had been reinforced with five more battalions and that Belarus had put anti-aircraft defenses on alert “to prevent possible attacks from behind against Russian forces”.
“We cannot do otherwise. We always expect provocations from Western partners. Politically, economically and militarily,” he added.
For the Belarusian president, the current situation “is a direct consequence of the irrational policy of the West, aimed at imposing its interests and harming the security of others”.
Among other factors that, in his opinion, led to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, he cited “the West’s total contempt for the security system, the balance of the system of checks and balances that were reached with difficulty after the collapse of the Soviet Union”.
“The degradation and undervaluation of international treaties and agreements has led to an escalation of the political-military situation in our region,” he declared.
“By the way, even before the start of military actions, we proposed to our Ukrainian colleagues to establish direct contact with the Russian side. We were ready to provide the necessary assistance for this. But our proposal was ignored,” he said.