Belarusian president says foreign forces in Ukraine conflict causes escalation

24/10/2024 6:10

        Belarusian President
        Alexander Lukashenko, one of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's
        closest allies, said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that
        deploying any foreign forces in the Ukraine conflict would
        inevitably lead to an escalation.
        
        The comments came as the U.S. said for the first time that
        it had seen evidence of North Korean troops in Russia and South
        Korean lawmakers said about 3,000 soldiers had been sent.
        
        Lukashenko, in separate interviews with the BBC and Russian
        state television, also said that any use of Russian nuclear
        weapons now deployed in Belarus would require his personal
        assent.
        
        And the president, in power since 1994, said he would run
        again in presidential elections in January if urged to do so.
        
        Lukashenko dismissed the notion that North Korea had
        dispatched troops to be deployed alongside Russian forces in the
        more than 2 1/2-year-old war in Ukraine.
        
        "Rubbish," Lukashenko told the BBC on the sidelines of the
        summit of the BRICS grouping of nations. "Knowing his character
        Putin would never try to persuade another country to involve its
        army in Russia’s special operation in Ukraine."
        
        Deploying foreign troops, he said, "would be a step towards
        the escalation of the conflict if the armed forces of any
        country, even Belarus, were on the contact line."
        
        And that would prompt Ukraine's allies to point to foreign
        involvement "so Nato troops would be deployed to Ukraine."
        
        The Kremlin on Monday sidestepped a question on whether
        North Korean troops were going to fight in Ukraine, but said it
        was Moscow's sovereign right to develop ties with Pyongyang.
        
        Lukashenko told the BBC that Putin "will never use the
        weapons stationed in Belarus without the Belarusian president’s
        consent". He said he was "completely ready" to use them -
        "otherwise, why have these weapons? But only if the boot of one
        (foreign) soldier steps into Belarus. We have no plans to attack
        anyone."
        
        Nuclear weapons were withdrawn from Belarus after the end of
        Soviet rule, but Russian tactical missiles were again deployed
        by mutual agreement, starting in June 2023.
        
        Speaking to Rossiya-1 television, Lukashenko said he was
        ready to seek another term in office. "If....my supporters tell
        me it has to be done, I will run," he said.
        
        Lukashenko was elected to a sixth term in 2020 in an
        election denounced in the West as rigged. Unprecedented street
        protests against that outcome were crushed by a police crackdown
        after Putin offered Lukashenko his full support.