"Nobody is pushing anyone anywhere". What did Lukashenko say about Eurasian integration almost 14 years ago
"We do not lose any sovereignty, no one is driving anyone anywhere," said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko about Eurasian integration back in 2011. And from January 1, 2012, the Single Economic Space of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan came into effect. We will talk about this and other significant events of 2012 in the new episode of the BELTA YouTube project "How It Was".
Alexander Lukashenko has pursued a course of union with Russia since the first days of his presidency. However, the Belarusian leader paid no less attention to integration processes across the entire Eurasian space. Although not everyone was happy about it. Hillary Clinton, who was the U.S. Secretary of State in 2012, even called the integration processes "resovietization of the region." The West was very much against the rapprochement of the former Soviet republics.
The President expressed himself quite unequivocally on this matter and called for not justifying himself before anyone.
"Attempts to disrupt this process are still being made. It is clear who stands behind these people, but we have stepped over all this and clearly stated that we do not lose any sovereignty, no one is driving anyone anywhere," noted Alexander Lukashenko. "I think Russia is unnecessarily justifying itself too much before everyone, claiming that it is putting pressure on someone here. We are doing this because it is beneficial for all three states."