Alyaksandr Lukashenka believes that agreements to end the Russian-Ukrainian war may be reached in the near future. He voiced this idea while meeting with Russian governor Mikhail Yevrayev, using the dismissive expression “tyagomotina” (“drag”, “tedious mess”) to refer to the war.
He mentioned the conflict while speaking about growing transport links between Belarus and Russia. Lukashenka stressed that a trip to Minsk for Yevrayev should not feel like a foreign assignment.
“We don’t consider Yaroslavl Region, or Russia as a whole, to be foreign or abroad. Officially, if someone goes on a business trip abroad — then it’s abroad, and if to Russia — then it’s to Russia. It’s separated. So Yaroslavl Region is not foreign to us,” he said.
Lukashenka also addressed Russia’s ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov.
“We are especially grateful to Boris Vyacheslavovich for strengthening the Minsk–Moscow route. More and more of our people are visiting Moscow, which is close to us. Connections are being restored, and Boris Vyacheslavovich is forced to add planes, helicopters, and trains to transport people. Recently one more train was added. Not enough? Not enough! Soon, as agreed with President Putin, we will try to build a high-speed line,” he said.
After this, Lukashenka returned to the topic of the war. In his view, ending it would allow him and Putin to focus on domestic affairs.
“We’ll finish this drag, I think, in the near future in Ukraine, and we’ll take up our internal matters so that our people live better and understand that there is no land better than ours,” Lukashenka concluded.