THE Belarus will send its troops to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine unless attacked, the Belarusian president said today Alexander Lukashenko during a rare press conference he granted to journalists from foreign media.

“I am ready to fight the Russians from the territory of Belarus only in one case: if even one soldier enters the territory of Belarus to kill my people,” Lukashenko said, according to the Belta agency.

“This is not only true for Ukraine, but also for all our other neighbors,” he continued the Belarusian president. “If they attack Belarus, then the response will be the harshest. The toughest! And the war will then take a completely different turn,” he warned.

Belarus serves as a rear base for Russian troops in their invasion of Ukraine. Russian soldiers and equipment are deployed on its territory.

According to many analysts, the Kremlin is pushing Lukashenko to join the war, but the Belarusian president so far refusey, despite his country’s great political and economic dependence on Moscow.

Today the Lukashenko stated that Russia has never asked him to participate in the invasion of Ukraine. Besides, he added that he will talk on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

In late January, Putin asked his government to negotiate the creation of joint military training centers with Belarus.

In mid-October Belarus and Russia had announced the establishment of one joint military forcewhich, according to Minsk, has an exclusively “defense” mission.

EM