In an interview with the state-owned television channel Russia-1, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was asked by Russian politician and journalist Yevgeny Popov about the possibility of nuclear weapons being used if the Russia-Ukraine war escalates. In Lukashenko’s response, he urged Russia and Ukraine to avoid escalation, and negotiate an agreement through peace talks, adding U.S. leaders are the primary provocateurs prolonging the conflict, stating:
“If they do not want this to happen, then let’s sit down at the negotiating table and end this fight. Neither the Ukrainian people, nor the Russians, or the Belarusians need it. It is them who need this conflict. I cannot disclose these facts as they are top secret. But they [high-ranking officials] openly say and I quote: ‘it is good that Ukrainians and Russians kill each other’…. High-ranking officials are talking about such things. They are of U.S. origin (I will lift the veil a little bit here). Is this OK? They want us to destroy each other.”
Popov asked Lukashenko about western nations questioning if Russia and Belarus are prepared to escalate the conflict with the use nuclear weapons:
A direct question that the West loves to ask leaders: Are you ready to press the “red button”?
Lukashenko responded, saying he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have not threatened the use of such weapons, or initiated the discussion about them, and said it is uncomfortable for himself, and probably Putin, to speak about the possibility of that decision:
I have heard the discussions of all these issues. It is you who asked me about nuclear weapons. As Putin says: “I did not raise this topic, you asked me.” As for the nuclear weapons: they “have pushed red buttons” all around, along the perimeter of Belarus and Russia. The only thing left is to press the real “red button.” Therefore, from a moral point of view, it is probably somehow uncomfortable for Putin and me, who will actually have to make such decisions, to even talk about it.
Lukashenko clarified that nuclear weapons would only be used in self-defense, as a response to an invasion of Belarus:
Secondly, when tactical nuclear weapons were deployed here, I told them [opponents abroad] although they consider me crazy and capable of using weapons, “We are not going to use any weapons until you step on our state border.”
Lukashenko said Belarus would not wait for an invading military to destroy the country, stating the military response would be immediate:
Russia, according to our agreement, shall send its troops (they have been designated already) to Belarus. We take the first blow and then Russia backs us up. This is Belarus and Russia’s common war against these beasts. Should we wait until they destroy our country, as it happened with the Soviet Union [the initial stage of the Great Patriotic War]? No! Therefore, we will respond instantly and appropriately.
