Belarus must be strong state in new geopolitical reality - Lukashenko
MINSK. July 17 (Interfax) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that under the existing geopolitical conditions, Belarus must be a strong state, both economically and politically, because "the weak get beaten, the strong are being reckoned with."
"We are facing a completely new geopolitical reality. Stability is absent not only far away - in North Africa or in the Middle East, but quite near, just next to us. And we see: things can flare up and explode anywhere," Lukashenko said at a meeting with heads of the Belarusian diplomatic missions and consulates in Minsk on Thursday, according to state media.
"The norms and principles of international behavior are being devaluated, the system of international law that took decades to create is being ruined. One thing is clear: the weak get beaten, the strong are being reckoned with. So we need to be strong - both politically, and especially economically," the Belarusian leader said.
The country's both foreign and domestic policies are aimed at achieving this goal, he said. "This is why we chose in favor of strengthening the Union State, creating the Eurasian Economic Union, and building strategic relations with the People's Republic of China," Lukashenko said.
"Hence our position towards the West, which consists of our readiness to develop relations across the entire spectrum of promising areas. But only on the principles of mutual respect, with no sanctions or diktats," he said.
