The conflict in Ukraine could have been avoided, and «it can be stopped now». This was stated by the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko cited by Russian agencies. Lukashenko called for the start of negotiations “without preconditions”. «I think – underlined the Belarusian president in an interview with the Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko, filmed by Russian agencies – that this is a classic principle of diplomacy. There is a need to sit down at the negotiating table and discuss everything, including Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Lugansk. Everything must be discussed. We sit down and set an agenda.”
The Belarusian president: Let’s help Moscow but we won’t go to war
Belarus “will always help Russia”, but if the Ukrainians do not cross the Belarusian borders, Minsk will not go to war against Kiev. President Aleskandr Lukashenko said this in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko, filmed by Russian agencies. Lukashenko has admitted that some units of the Russian army entered Ukrainian territory from Belarus during the conflict. Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarus at the beginning of the conflict, in February 2022, Lukashenko admitted, confirming news already in the public domain. “Why Russian troops crossed the border between Belarus and Ukraine in the Chernobyl region, you should ask Zelensky,” the Belarusian president added.
Sarkozy: Putin made a mistake, but once said, a way out must be found
Russians are Slavs. They are different from us. Discussion is always difficult and has caused many misunderstandings in our common history. Despite this, we need them and they need us.” She stated it Nicolas Sarkozy in an interview with Le Figaro. “Putin was wrong, what he did is serious and results in a failure – he added – but once this has been said, we need to find a way out”. “I had profound disagreements with Vladimir Putin, I assumed my responsibilities in 2008, when I was the current president of the EU Council,” the former French president said. “I had convinced him to withdraw his tanks which were 25 kilometers from Tbilisi. But at the same time, with Angela Merkel, we had shown that we were aware of its red lines. This is why we have rejected the accession of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO, despite strong American pressure. We didn’t want Putin to slip into the anti-Western paranoia that has long tempted Russian leaders. The Kremlin encirclement complex is an old story. Putin was wrong. What he has done is serious and results in failure. But once you’ve said that, you have to move on and find a way out. Russia is a neighbor of Europe and will remain so.’ In the interview Sarkozy also evoked the hypothesis of a referendum on the Crimea “organized under the strict control of the international community”. The latter statements which have sparked harsh criticism in France, starting with Julien Bayou, leader of the ecologists, who spoke of a “shocking” interview, and attacked Sarkozy, “bought by the Russians”, he said, referring to the ties that emerged recently with a Russian insurance company: a 3 million euro contract that has been under investigation since 2021.