Lukashenko: We are not bluffing

Lukashenko: We are not bluffing

Russia and Belarus are forced to fight and protect their interests in the context of the informational, political and economic war that the West is waging against them, he said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin within the High State Council of the Federal State.

"I say openly, if necessary, we will use all possible means to protect the Federal State. We are not bluffing, we are serious," Lukashenko said.

"We have no right to lose the battle for the minds and hearts of our citizens in the press, on television, and on the digital and ideological battlefield," the Belarusian president said, adding that the conflict between West and East will not subside long after the guns fall silent.

The Belarusian leader pointed out that the Federal State of Russia and Belarus is among the leaders when it comes to similar alliances of states.

"If we look back at the overall results we achieved during the previous period and in a short time, our Union is rightly among the leaders compared to other unions of a similar type," the Belarusian leader emphasized.

According to him, the good economic cooperation of the Federal State is supported by the number of trade operations - for the past 27 years, the value of trade has increased by more than four and a half times, and the key direction in bilateral relations is industrial cooperation.

On this day, more than 8,000 Belarusian and Russian companies, hundreds of thousands of jobs, are connected, said the head of state and added that the Federal State adequately withstood the first massive foreign economic shocks.

At the same time, he added that Russia and Belarus are implementing 60 scientific and technical programs that will help import substitution in various industries and are implementing investment projects worth more than 1.5 billion rubles.

As the enemy's attempts at economic blockade have failed, he is now using military blackmail in the form of the accumulation of NATO forces and assets near the borders of the Federal State, he said.

"NATO is building forces and assets near the borders of Belarus and the Russian Federation, the Kaliningrad region is particularly at risk," Lukashenko emphasized, as reported by the Russia Today Balkan portal.