Lukashenko about Union State programs: Losing sovereignty is out of the question

Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed: “We are not talking about losing sovereignty. We see shortcomings in the Soviet Union, in the European Union. In other words, we can avoid it as we build our relations as part of a union. Today we are so educated and smart that we can build the kind of relations that federated or unitary states don't have without losing the sovereignty of Russia or Belarus.”

The president pointed out that in order to establish tight relations the countries do not have to merge with other countries. “There is no need for mergers and takeovers. We just have to build relations as two sovereign states,” he said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko used the Union State program on military technology cooperation to elaborate his point of view. “We are two sovereign states but we have already built our relations. We can say we have one army, with the Belarusian army at its heart in the western direction. If, god forbid, a war happens, the Belarusian army will be the first to join this fight. And the entire western part of the Armed Forces of Russia will join in right away. Together we are building defenses and resistance against the enemy,” he noted.

“We've built it as sovereign states. This is why there is no need to destroy the sovereignty and independence of countries today,” Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.