In what can only be seen as an escalation of the recent impasse between Yerevan and Minsk, President Aleksander Lukashenko of Belarus warned Armenia against abandoning Russia, saying that no one in the world needs Armenia.
In an interview with the Russian Rossiya Television, Lukashenko lavishly praised Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, while, at the same, time criticizing—and insulting—Armenia, saying that some former Soviet states seek to benefit from Russia without offering anything in return. He blamed Armenia, however, for only “wanting to take from Russia.”
“Who needs Armenia except us? No one,” charged Lukashenko, challenging Yerevan to develop Armenia’s economy with its own resources and allies, such as “France or Macron.”
“Tomorrow, he [Macron] will not be in power and everyone will forget Armenia,” the Belarus leader said.
Evidently, the interview was Lukashenko’s brand of calling for unity among the former Soviet states, which are bound together through the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union.
He said that CSTO and EEU members states are all “in the same boat” as Russia. “If it capsizes, we will all sink together,” Lukashenko said.
In veiled remarks, the Belarus leader called on Yerevan to abandon its efforts to distance itself from Moscow, saying the “time will come when you will have to turn to Russia for assistance.”
