Opinions & Interviews

Lukashenko: West was surprised to learn that world is much wider

MINSK, 26 September (BelTA) - Many Western politicians were surprised to learn that the world is much wider than their narrow ideas about it, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with Governor of Russia’s Leningrad Oblast Aleksandr Drozdenko in Minsk on 26 September, BelTA has learned.

 “In one of your speeches, you said that the traditional advantages of Leningrad Oblast bordering on the European Union have become risk factors since 2022. But this situation has been very beneficial to us and actually to Russia too. We will now rely more on ourselves and think how we move forward,” the Belarusian president said.  

In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko mentioned the recent telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which they discussed two major projects, namely joint production and maintenance of aircraft and the construction of a second railway line from Belarus to St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast.

"If Leningrad Oblast was still focused on its neighbors, on the European Union, then these matters would, probably, have not been on our agenda. There are no unilateral gains and failures. I think we will cope with the problems that we have now (they are being solved and we see it)," Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

In his opinion, Leningrad Oblast is successfully coping with the problems, with the support of Belarusians. The pace of economic growth is a convincing confirmation of this.

"With your help, we have redirected logistics and our manufacturers again have the opportunity to trade in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. We will step up our efforts on this front," the president assured.

For many Western politicians, it was a real revelation that the world is much wider than their narrow ideas about it. They decided to act in the Russian way: get into the fight and then see what will come out of it. It turned out that if you are not Russian, this way will not work for you," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

Thanks to industrial cooperation, Belarus and Russia managed to make the most effective use of each other's strengths to achieve technological sovereignty, the president said. "This will enable us not only to respond to any pressure attempts by the West but also create a new, healthy competitive environment within our union [the Union State]," Aleksandr Lukashenko is convinced.

He gave a simple example: despite the powerful development of the agricultural industries both in Belarus and Leningrad Oblast, the parties do not compete but successfully find areas where they can support each other.

"We produce farm machines and units, grain drying complexes, equipment for feed mills, food products, seeds and much more, and these are our strong suits" the president continued. Belarus is actively sharing its best practices with farmers of Leningrad Oblast, including in the field of veterinary medicine where the parties are taking first steps to develop cooperation.

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