"NATO troops are on our doorstep. They will drag us into the conflict"

"The escalation around us is only intensifying. NATO troops are at the doorstep of our home and are doing everything to draw Belarus into the conflict," Lukashenko said after the inauguration ceremony in the Palace of Independence in Minsk, reports RIA Novosti.

The presidential election in Belarus was held on January 26, and according to data from the Central Election Commission of the Republic, Lukashenko, who was elected to the highest state office for the seventh time, received a record 86.82 percent of the vote.

• Lukashenko issued an order: The army is on its feet

During Lukashenko's recent visit to Moscow, the Belarus leader said that if his country had to choose, official Minsk would always side with Russia.

"If we have to choose, we will always be on the side of our Russia. It cannot be otherwise. Belarus will never leave Russia alone," Lukashenko said in an address at the Federation Council, at the plenary session of the Upper House of the Russian Parliament, RIA Novosti reported earlier.