On June 22, Minsk /BELTA/. Belarus has established itself as an independent state. This fact was stated today by the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, at a meeting with young social scientists at the Museum of Modern Belarusian Statehood, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. "Having received a chance in the early 1990s, we used it to the full. In just two decades – a fleeting moment by historical standards, while sometimes experiencing incredible external pressure – we have essentially created a new European country," the head of state noted. "Our young state has shown that even a small country can command respect and pursue an independent foreign policy course," the President said. "You see how the West treats us now, and even in the East, we are not always understood," Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. According to him, "the reason is not that we have the wrong regime, the wrong president, or something else is wrong." "I don't want to draw parallels, but they cooperate successfully with some regimes because they have oil, money, and so on. What a fuss about some small country in the centre of Europe deciding to become independent. Independent from whom? From Russia, Poland, or Lithuania, within which we have always been?" the President remarked. Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that independent Belarus has been established. "And this must be accepted. Sooner or later, this will have to be accepted," the head of state believes. "Our goal is to create a state that not only our children but also we ourselves will be proud of," the President emphasized. Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled that Belarus had a very long and difficult path to independence. "For centuries, our lands passed from one state to another, and Belarusians were subjected to political, economic, and cultural oppression. All this was in our history," the President noted. The head of state believes that the extraordinary resilience and will of the Belarusians, who managed to preserve their aspiration for statehood through centuries and achieve their goal, deserve respect. "The older generation has not forgotten Belarus as it was in the turbulent 90s, when the economy collapsed, when there was a paralysis of power, unemployment, and poverty, and we were balancing on the edge of an abyss. Perhaps the Lord saved us. We began to look for a way out, including a political one," the head of state recalled.