Lukashenko Calls on CIS Partners to Support Ukrainian Authorities

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, has called on the leaders of the CIS countries to support the current authorities in Ukraine. He made this statement on Friday at the CIS summit of state leaders taking place in Ashgabat.

“Speaking about the new authorities in Ukraine, I would like to urge you to support those authorities. You can already see the trend to turn back, to suppress, to topple that authority, but we must understand who will come to power in Ukraine afterwards,” said Lukashenko, according to the BELTA news agency.

Lukashenko mentioned that he addressed the issue regarding Ukraine due to the fact that he, “like the President of Russia, is very much immersed in this issue.” He added, “Because it is happening close to us.”

The President of Belarus also called on his CIS partners to work together to resolve frozen conflicts in the post-Soviet space. “We have been together, fought together, and look at what is happening in the post-Soviet area. There are still such conflicts. Why are we not solving these issues?” asked Lukashenko.

“If we are capable of anything, we need to address those issues, those frozen conflicts. We must resolve them honestly, fairly,” stated the Belarusian President.

He expressed confidence that “we cannot create a situation where we have to call for help from across the ocean—help us solve these issues.” “Let’s solve them ourselves and not create new ones,” Lukashenko urged.