Lukashenko said there should be no deal with Ukraine "behind Belarus' back"

reuters.com : President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said on Thursday that his country should participate in negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, and that he expects to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming days.

"There can be no separate agreements behind Belarus' back," the Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Lukashenko as saying.

"Since you have dragged us into this - first of all, the Western countries - naturally, the position of Belarus should be heard at these negotiations."

Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei went even further, saying that Lukashenko himself "should participate in the (final) meeting."

On February 24, Russia sent tens of thousands of troops from Russian and Belarusian territory to Ukraine during the so-called "special military operation" aimed at demilitarization and "denazification" of its neighbor.

Ukraine and Western governments reject this as a false pretext for the invasion, as a result of which more than 10 million people were forced to leave their homes, thousands were killed or injured and cities and towns were destroyed.

Lukashenko said that the Belarusian armed forces are not and will not participate in the conflict, and on Thursday said that Belarus was unfairly called an "accomplice of the aggressor."

However, the European Union, the United States and other countries have included Belarus in the large-scale sanctions imposed against Russia.

"We don't need this war," Belta quotes Lukashenko as saying. "Because as a result of this conflict between the two Slavic peoples, we can suffer the most."

Although Belarus is now heavily dependent on Russia for economic and military support, Lukashenko has tried from time to time in the past to distance himself from Moscow in favor of improving relations with the European Union.

In 2020, the Kremlin helped Lukashenka to suppress by force mass pro-democratic protests accusing him of fraud in the elections that gave him a sixth consecutive term as president, and to suppress what was left of the Belarusian political opposition.