Lukashenko talks about new military reality

Aleksandr Lukashenko stated: “The world has changed and the military organization has changed with it. I don't want to say it is bad. Wars become different these days.”

In his words, nobody will send troops into another country the way it was done in the middle of the 20th century. “Nobody will send army units against us the way it was done in 1941. Because the situation has changed. It would be too obvious, it would start World War Three if things happened that way,” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “They are going to undermine us from within. We've already seen some of that. They touched us a bit after the presidential election in August 2020, with one tooth. They've broken their tooth. Now they are going to use all the teeth to bite us from the inside.”

“I say it to you publicly: we, military people, will have to defend our country from here, starting from the inside. Troops should not sit idle and wait for someone to cross our border in order to start fighting. We will fight from here. You should be ready for it,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.

“This is why if you are ready in this regard, please, let's work together and serve our people. Don't expect thanks, few will say it. They will say thanks later when many have tried something else and have compared things. Then they may thank us after making conclusions. Don't expect thanks now. We should do our jobs and do our duty. And act in line with the law,” Aleksandr Lukashenko added.

The head of state asked State Secretary of the Security Council Aleksandr Volfovich about the candidates nominated for these jobs, about their reliability and the ability to do these jobs. Aleksandr Volfovich assured Aleksandr Lukashenko that all the candidacies had been thoroughly vetted and he was ready to vouch for every one of them.

Aleksandr Lukashenko explained he had turned down some candidates in the past. “I told him [the state secretary of the Security Council] to sort out these things. I want people in charge of specific areas of work, people in positions of the chief of staff and deputy ministers to be the people, who have seen action, figuratively speaking. People who have been commanding officers. There were various people among the candidates, including political officers. I've been a political officer all my life, too. But I know how commanding officers treat political officers and so on. Not because they don't need them or they are bad. But if someone has served as a political officer all his life, you have to agree that it is not enough. Just an example. There were many candidacies. Including people who used to command large military forces,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained his approach to personnel decisions.

He went on saying that it will be clear virtually within the next few months whether the selection of candidates had been correct. “Because we live in a very serious and unusual time. And it is not simple propaganda. You are people directly from the troops. And the police general [Vadim Sinyavsky has been appointed Emergencies Minister, he previously served as the chief of the Grodno Oblast Police Department] comes from Grodno, from the frontlines. He sees and knows what is going on here. And then [deputy prosecutor general in the past and Chairman of the Investigative Committee now Dmitry] Gora did not sit idle in his previous job either. He knows the situation in the country very well and in this position, too,” the head of state remarked.

“I've agreed to these candidacies. I've agreed with you, the people who are present at this table today. I strongly hope, men, that neither I nor the nation will be disappointed. That the people will not be disappointed with us. Because we have to protect. Let's not talk about sovereignty, independence, the state. It is only natural. We get paid for it albeit small salaries. We have to protect our families. And families of our people. That's it. Simple math,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.