“We are forced to withdraw troops from the streets, call half the army into arms and close the state border from the west – especially with Lithuania and Poland. We are forced to strengthen the state border, to our great regret, with our brotherly Ukraine, “said Lukashenko, according to the TASS agency. He added that he did not want a war to break out in the country.
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“In addition, I do not want Belarus, as well as Poland and Lithuania, to become a theater of military operations, where our problems will not be solved. That is why I appeal to the nations of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine – stop your crazy policies. “Don’t let a war break out,” he said.
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The authoritarian president has been facing mass protests in his country for six weeks now over his questioned victory in the presidential election. The opposition considers it a fraud and the result of the elections was not recognized by the European Union. Lukashenko reportedly won 80 percent of the vote with an 80 percent turnout.
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“I swear there were no lies in the election, you can’t falsify the election to 80 percent,” Lukashenko told TASS. He claimed that his opponents did not need the results of the vote to “attack the peaceful capital”.
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