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Lukashenko: Belarusian-U.S. relations ‘out of the cold’
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DOBRUSH, 4 February (BelTA) – The Belarusian-U.S. relations are out of the cold, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to the media during the visit to Dobrush Paper Factory on 4 February, BelTA has learned.
“I will not say that the United States is such great friends of ours. But the period of this cold, when we looked at each other over some reinforced concrete thick wall, is over. There is no need to moan or worry in this regard. We are forging relations with the greatest empire, the leading country in the world,” the Belarusian leader said.
“Russia has got concerned about it. But have we advanced more in the relations with the United States than Russia? Look at them. They are trying to make nice with them, though it is not actually working. Are we worried? We are happy when they cuddle and kiss. Yet, they mounted hysteria over the visit of the secretary of state! Yes, he did visit us. I did not hide it, I hinted that we had a long-standing relationship in absentia. If we declassify all the materials, the world will applaud us. Mr Pompeo, when he was CIA director, and I conducted some major operations here. They contacted us, gave us information. We detained people here with nuclear materials on the border. We detained such people without their involvement, too. This issue is number one for them,” the Belarusian president said.
The head of state believes that the U.S. side appreciated Belarus for these actions and for the friendly policy, the proposal to involve the United States in the efforts to solve the conflict in the Donbass. “They noticed it, appreciated it. Mike Pompeo told me about that. They saw the real Belarus. Not the one that our opposition figures pictured abroad. They saw that it is a normal country, that people’s rights are not infringed here,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that he has met with many high-ranking U.S. representatives and various experts and political scholars in recent years. Even the Hi-Tech Park in Belarus was founded with the participation of the U.S. representatives.
“But our ill-wishers in Russia have not taken the trouble of studying the background of the relations. We have been building our relations in an inconspicuous and low-key way,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
He said that when Belarus was still at odds with the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to that country on a visit. “There they reproached him that the dictatorship in Belarus existed thanks to him. When we met after that, he said to me, ‘Listen, I am asking you to be nicer with them’. He asked me not to quarrel, to mend relations,” the head of state shared the tidbits of that dialogue. “Look, this is what I am doing now. Who in Russia is now concerned about this? Whose toes have we stepped?” he wondered.
Speaking about the meeting with Michael Pompeo in Minsk, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that it was a really friendly exchange of views: “We have discussed everything: what I know and what they know. He spoke frankly about his politics. I described it the way I see it. He understands our current problems. They are well aware, even sometimes better than me, about some issues in our relations with Russia. He told me not to worry, that they will help Belarus. His said that the USA will deliver oil to Belarus at competitive prices.”
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