MINSK, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – The West should not use Ukraine as a tool to exert pressure on Russia, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday.
"One should not use Ukraine as a factor of pressure on Russia," the president of Belarus said Monday at a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Minsk.
"The deterioration of the situation in Russia, including the state of the economy, affects the entire post-Soviet space. We are concerned by this as well," Lukashenko said.
He also said that he was ready to coordinate with Patrushev on "our positions, our actions, if need be."
Lukashenko stressed it was critical for both Russia and Belarus that Ukraine remain Ukraine, and not become an occupied NATO base on the countries’ borders.
"I wish that these people [Ukrainians], the people who are close to us, Slavic people, stayed with us," he stressed. However, the Ukrainians should make their own choice, Lukashenko said, noting that time will pass and the situation will be stabilized.
"It is already happening, Ukraine is coming round. Ukraine will not go west. Nobody is waiting for her there. People undoubtedly seek cooperation," the Belarusian president said.
Belarus became one of the first countries to acknowledge Russia’s reunification with Crimea, a former republic within Ukraine, where 96 percent of voters supported integration with the Russian Federation in a March referendum.
Lukashenko also condemned recent military actions by Kiev’s current authorities, which led to dozens of people dying in clashes beginning in late April. Lukashenko met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 8 and suggested that the two countries should coordinate joint activities in regard to the situation in Ukraine.
