Opinions & Interviews

Nuclear war can start within a few minutes. What did Lukashenko warn West about five years ago?

An archive photo

MINSK, 5 January (BelTA) - Five years ago Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko rang the alarm bell saying that Russia and NATO, for example, could go from an unintentional local conflict to a nuclear war in just a few minutes. The West did not heed these words of the Belarusian leader. In the latest episode of BelTA's YouTube project How It Was we will go back five years and recall what happened in 2019.

Five years is a very short time. But for some reason today, the year seems like from another era. We did not know what Covid was. We did not yet face the most aggressive attempt at coup d'état in our history. We did not feel the breath of war right at our borders.
 
In 2019, Belarus was, one could say, the center of several large-scale political, cultural, and sport events at once. Let's start with the political ones. Our country hosted an international conference entitled “European Security: Stepping Back from the Brink of the Abyss”. See how the name of the conference resonates with the first election program of the Belarusian leader. Belarus managed to step back. But to pull the whole region away from the edge of the abyss requires a joint effort. It is a shame they did not heed Aleksandr Lukashenko. 

 “Mankind is moving at a breakneck pace towards an abyss. Unfortunately, we have to admit that the big powers have reason to distrust each other. Unfriendly or even aggressive actions in the past entrenched mutual suspicions and fears for many years to come.

We need to return to the concept of European security based on cooperation, to the values of Helsinki and its final act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe. We all urgently need a strong success story that will convince even the fierce skeptics and ‘hawks’ that despite deep contradictions and misunderstanding, security interests in Europe are absolutely compatible,” the president said addressing the conference.

Lukashenko issued a warning: Russia and NATO could go from a local conflict to a nuclear war in just a few minutes. At that time, five years ago, these words were not heeded. But today this is our reality. Fortunately, it has not yet come to nuclear war. The security system in Europe is not just failing. It is simply not working. Today these words of the Belarusian president are perceived quite differently. If the West continues to ignore the peace initiatives of Belarus and other countries, the nuclear apocalypse will no longer seem something fantastic.

Belarus also hosted large-scale sporting events. We are talking about the 2nd European Games. Minsk became a so-called sports capital of Europe. Fan zones, souvenir shops, fans coming from various countries.... Belarus waived visa requirements for the participants and visitors of the Games. That is exactly what sport without borders means! Belarus waives visas on a regular basis. Today residents of about 40 European countries do not need a visa to travel to Belarus at any time of the year.

Of course, these are by no means all the significant events which took place in Belarus five years ago. In this episode we will tell you who tried to accuse Belarusians of sponging, and how the 75th anniversary of Belarus' liberation from Nazi invaders and the millennium of Brest were celebrated. Please tune in to see the chronicle of these and many other events in the new episode of BelTA's YouTube-project How it Was.

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