“Good afternoon.
It was my pleasure to meet with Beatrice Fihn, the head of ICAN. I am grateful to Ms Fihn for coming to Vilnius to discuss with me the issue of significant importance to Belarusians and to the world.
The illegitimate regime of Lukashenka has stated that it might return nuclear weapons to Belarus. Now it has removed from the draft Constitution provisions about nuclear free status and neutrality. This opens our country to deployment of nuclear weapons making it a target in a potential armed conflict. In addition, abandoning neutrality might drag Belarus into foreign wars. These wars would have nothing to do with national interests of Belarus. We must avoid this at all costs.
Belarusian people first adopted nuclear-weapon-free and neutral status in 1990. Then it was fixed in the Constitution of 1994. It was right after the end of the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan, a war for foreign interests in which Belarus lost 770 soldiers. We wanted to prevent another war involving Belarus against the will of people.
Collapse of democratic institutions in Belarus has led to regime’s reckless behavior. It became a threat to the international peace and security. In just one year, Lukashenka hijacked a Ryanair flight to capture a journalist. He engineered a migration crisis weaponizing migrants to punish Lithuania and Poland for active support of Belarusians. He intervened militarily in Kazakhstan’s internal political crisis. Lukashenka allowed Russia to amass its troops to threaten Ukraine.
Now he wants to abandon nuclear-weapon free status altogether. Lukashenka has done all these steps without discussing with people. These developments destabilize regional security. Obviously, abandoning nuclear-weapons-free status creates a potential challenge to global security. This change is contrary to Belarusian national interests.
We hope we will work together with Ms Fihn, ICAN and other international actors to ensure that Belarus remains a nuclear-weapon-free and neutral state. This is what Belarusians wanted in 1990. This is what they want today”.
