Lukashenko names condition for improving relations with West

The Belarusian authorities want normal relations with the West, but on one condition – no interfering in Belarus' affairs, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he talked to foreign and Belarusian journalists in Minsk on 16 February, BelTA has learned. American journalists asked the president how he feels about the fact that the Belarusian government system is called a dictatorship, and he himself is called a dictator. “The fact that you in the West think that there is a dictatorship here is an advantage for me. Soon you will also want a dictatorship. You have it in fact, but in an unfair, twisted, stupid form. It has always been there… There is complete laxity in the West: there is neither dictatorship, nor democracy there. We in Belarus make decisions and address tasks. Indeed, I have to intervene or take most of the decisions. If you think it's a dictatorship, it is fine with me. I don't think it's a dictatorship. There's no dictatorship here,” the Belarusian president said.

“We didn't plunder the country. I don't have billions in your bank accounts (though you say I do; if so, you can take it). There are probably many shortcomings. This is our country, we live here, we don't create problems for anyone. We are not at war and we are not going to fight. Therefore, I don't care about what you say about me as a person and that you call me a ‘dictator'. But I do care about what you say about my country. And I want us to have normal relations. There is only one condition on my part: no meddling. We will somehow figure things out on our own. You can help us. Then there will be no ‘political prisoners' and other problems. You are creating them. You wanted to turn the country upside down in 2020. I was among those