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Aleksandr Lukashenko Expresses His Gratitude to Russia
// People's friendship
Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko gave his annual address to the Belarussian people and the National Assembly yesterday. He assured everyone that there would be no “color revolutions” in the republic and thanked Russia for supporting Belarus on the international scene. In addition, the president touched on trafficking in people and allowed Natasha Podpolskaia of Mogilev to represent Russia at the Eurovision competition.
“There will not be any resonant ideas, because we are at the end of a five-year plan today. Therefore, all great, resonant ideas are for the third All-Belarussian People's Assembly, which will take place at the beginning of next year,” Lukashenko reassured his listeners at the very beginning of yesterday's address. Following that, he began to talk about an urgent matter.
Lukashenko once again assured everyone that he would absolutely not accept scenarios for the democratic replacement of political elites disagreeable to the West. “This means no color revolutions – this is banditry disguised as democracy,” Lukashenko said, adding that “this banditry is dictated and paid for from outside; it is carried out to please those who have nothing to do with the country and people and interests only those who have imperial ambitions and are trying to capture new markets.”
“No bandits, no revolutionaries, and no money will be able to operate in Belarus. Today, they bring this money into Belarus in sacks and suitcases. We know, and if we remain silent, this does not mean we don't know,” the Belarussian leader said threateningly, the more so that, in his words, the Belarussian people completely exhausted the limit of such revolutions in the past century. At the same time, Lukashenko called upon foreign diplomats to be more tactful in their duties. “If you take the example of the ambassadors of Turkmenistan, Armenia, Russia, and other people, who are devoted to Belarus and who love this country,” said the president, describing a circle of respected people.
Observers took notice that, unlike previous addresses to parliament, especially last year's, which happened after the famous gas shutoff in February, the Belarussian president said only nice things about the Kremlin. “In Russia today, the president and nearly all the Russian people fully understand today that Belarus was and remains the Russian Federation's only ally,” Lukashenko noted.
He confirmed a slowdown in the integration process, but immediately disclaimed responsibility for this. “Neither I nor the president of the Russian Federation, nor the leadership of Russia and Belarus have stopped this process, our good relations in the sphere of diplomacy and policy. But there is a certain lack of understanding on questions of the future federal agencies,” he said.
According to Lukashenko, relations with a united Europe were also constructed pragmatically. “”We are prepared to sacrifice and do everything so that Europe is comfortable in Belarus, considering our growth in turnover,” he said. However, he noted that “not all Europeans are impressed by the political stability in Belarus and the social orientation of the transformations.” Lukashenko recalled the United States as one more counterbalance. It turns out that Belarus in interested in reviving a full-scale dialog with the United States, “but without urgency, especially in view of the positive dynamics of trade and economic ties.”
However, Belarus does not have many friends right now. Yesterday, Lukashenko thanked the leaders of China, India, and Russia for the tremendous international support they had shown Minsk on the international scene. “They actually took us under their protection,” he said.
Lukashenko himself has taken Belarussian women under his protection. “We have spoken many times about the traffic in people. We've carried it to the point of absurdity – what to do if a married woman loves someone on the side. This is not the point of the decree. We are not about to hang a belt of truth on the appropriate part of the body. You conduct yourself as you think is necessary. The point is that trafficking in women is prohibited,” the president said yesterday. “There is not room in the investigatory isolation ward today – they are all in prison because they were engaged in traffic and received huge amounts of money, especially in the UAE, where they got up to $10, 000 for a girl, and millions of dollars were circulating,” Lukashenko recounted.
However, there is an exception to the protection of Belarussian women. “Take Natasha Podolskaia of Mogilev, who will be representing Russia at the Eurovision contest. We didn't need her; our own people didn't see her as a talented person. But it's good that Podolskaia will represent mother Russia. We had an unusual conversation, and I said “Compete, Natasha; there's nothing wrong with that. Russia isn't a foreign country for us,” Lukashenko said, dispelling all doubts.
Yury Viktorovich, Minsk
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 20, 2005
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