A powerful analysis from Lukashenko. The President clearly laid out the prerequisites for the events in Ukraine.

"The tragic outcome of all this we see today in Ukraine. Did the majority of the Ukrainian population want to see this? Of course not. But Maidan did its job," the President stated.

With the support of external forces, a coup d'état was carried out, which is acknowledged even in the West. Blood was shed. War began in Donbas. All of Europe shuddered.

"Remember, to stop the carnage in Ukraine in 2014, we plunged headfirst into peacekeeping processes from the very beginning. We advocated for a peaceful settlement and the earliest possible cessation of human casualties and suffering. We proposed Minsk for the work of the Trilateral Contact Group at the request of Russia and Ukraine. It was the Minsk agreements that stopped the bloodshed. Yes, there were sporadic shootings. But the war stopped, and civilians, and not only civilians, stopped dying by the hundreds and thousands," the head of state said. "As early as October, I proposed using Belarusian servicemen, primarily our border guards at the time, as a peacekeeping contingent to separate the conflicting parties in Donbas. However, at that moment, there was no interest in this proposal at the first stage. We returned to this topic in the autumn of 2017 at the UN Security Council. And again, in response, silence."

Meanwhile, it was obvious to everyone that the prerequisites for the conflict had not disappeared. Moreover, the West intensified its approaches to the militarization of the region. It drew the Ukrainian side into this story with unfulfilled promises of the country's accession to the European Union and NATO. "The goal is one – to provoke us, primarily Russia. And many European politicians do not hesitate to talk about this from the rostrum today," the President noted.

Meanwhile, civilians continued to die in Donbas. "And, mind you, this war in the West was as if no one saw it. They went blind, and very recently – this runaway Polish serviceman told how they were hunting. They went blind, no one sees, and deaf, no one hears," the President noted. "There were no photos in the Western press of children sitting in basements during shelling, and of the numerous victims of Ukrainian aggression against the civilian population. Were those deaths not enough for everyone in Europe to sit down and decide on confidence-building measures and security in the region, taking into account the new realities?"

He continued: we sounded the alarm from various international platforms, put forward a whole series of major initiatives aimed at restarting international dialogue on European security issues ("Helsinki-2"), supported

all peace initiatives and participated in them.

The Head of State noted that at that time, within the leadership, particularly in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there were two opinions on whether to come forward with these initiatives, understanding one's place in the world: "Knowing that even if they hear us, they will dismiss us. It's not America proposing an initiative, but Belarus. And then I made the decision: even if they don't hear, if they hear – let them not act, but we must talk about it."

Belarus remained committed to relevant international obligations even when leading countries were withdrawing from them. In August 2019, it was announced that the provisions of the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF Treaty) would continue to be implemented. Belarus did not withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, unlike the USA. The country also remained a participant in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. "We observe these treaties, although well-known countries have wiped their feet on them," he stated.

The Russian leadership also approached the USA and NATO with proposals to launch an open dialogue on security issues. Its proposals were ignored, directly or indirectly.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly openly called for respect for Russian security interests. These calls went unheard.

Meanwhile, Ukraine was being pumped with weapons and encouraged to seek revenge in Donbas. Extremist organisations of a Nazi nature flourished. In 2020, the destabilisation of Belarus began. "The presidential elections were used. An attempted coup was carried out in our country following the Ukrainian scenario with the active involvement of Ukrainian nationalists and cyber warfare centres located in Ukraine," the Belarusian leader remarked.

In the Volyn region, near the Belarusian borders, bases and training camps were established with the knowledge of the competent Ukrainian authorities for the purpose of training "volunteers" to participate in Belarusian events. "This, by the way, was publicly confirmed in court by Semenchenko, the commander of the 'Donbas' battalion, who is currently in custody. There is also irrefutable evidence of the involvement of Ukrainian special services in the activities of the Avtukhovich gang in acquiring ammunition in Ukraine and moving it to Belarus. This is not an isolated fact. We have told our people about this. Think about it, more than 15 political emigration centres and structures operate on the territory of Ukraine, engaged in recruiting and supporting those who have fled Belarus," the Head of State said.

In 2020-2021 alone, Belarusian border guards and Ukrainian services

four caches of weapons and ammunition have been discovered on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. These include hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, explosive devices, and a large quantity of explosives and ammunition cartridges.

Overall, over the past three years, the activities of 12 agents and career officers of Ukrainian special services have been suppressed on the territory of Belarus. "We can name them by name. We have spoken about this. If there is a desire, we can repeat it. We assumed then, but now it is obvious: before dealing with Russia, it was necessary to dismantle the so-called Belarusian balcony. Remember this is fundamental. Before going to war with Russia, if this conflict had not occurred, they would have trained on us. When the blitzkrieg in Belarus failed in August 2020, they started to strangle us economically," said Alexander Lukashenko. "And the Ukraine that every Belarusian loves has found itself almost in the wake of anti-Belarusian rhetoric."

A "cardinal change in the situation in Belarusian-Ukrainian relations" was announced, with the cessation of interstate dialogue at the highest and high levels, and the broadcasting of Belarusian information television channels was terminated.

Official Kyiv supported, and in some cases, outpaced the West in its anti-Belarusian rhetoric and joined the EU sanctions against Belarus. Ukraine's airspace was closed to Belarusian aviation.

The Parliament of Ukraine became the main platform for biased rhetoric, anti-Belarusian statements, lobbying for decisions aimed at supporting the radical Belarusian opposition, and providing financial and resource support to fugitives. "All this was done on the orders of certain forces. You know them well. I am convinced that if it were not for the prompting of these forces in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by Western sponsors who wish to destroy Belarus and Russia, there would not have been such a stir in parliament," the President is confident.

In the Economy

A ban on the import of Belarusian electricity was introduced, along with restrictive measures on the supply of certain goods and targeted sanctions against some domestic economic entities operating in the oil refining and potash fertilizer supply sectors.

At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko noted that during a critical period when Ukraine's entire energy system could have collapsed, Belarus, at the request of the Ukrainian side, assisted with electricity supplies. "We did it. A week later, we refused. Well, as you wish... Two days later, they were on their knees again, begging. We resumed supplies again. Now they have refused again. And it gets worse: on the orders of

of the same West, they are ceasing the transit of our potash fertilizers from BKK by rail and taking other measures. Poland and Lithuania were proceeding in parallel with them. In response, we made a well-known decision regarding Lithuania. But what is most surprising is that we supplied about 40% of diesel fuel, highest quality gasolines (they themselves spoke about it) to Ukraine. And then they make a decision, allegedly to harm us. But is it us?" - listed the head of state.

Provocations at the state border have intensified. From November to January alone, Ukrainian aerial means violated Belarus's airspace three times. "I am only talking about Ukraine. I am not taking the West into account," noted Alexander Lukashenko.

"And what was happening with our western neighbors? Operational and combat training activities have increased significantly, with the tasks being practiced not of a defensive nature, as they tried to convince us, but specifically offensive actions. Aerial reconnaissance along our borders was conducted with an intensity of 15-20 flights per week. Clearly for the purpose of revealing the air defense system and assessing our capabilities. Our facilities were plotted on maps. Why? For defensive purposes?" said the President. "We also saw how actively military infrastructure (airfields, ports, storage bases, transport communications) was being prepared for the reception of large troop groupings. The European Union has taken significant measures to simplify the movement of foreign troops across its territories by adopting the so-called military Schengen." "Echelons with weapons, ammunition, equipment, and personnel moved unimpeded from Great Britain, Germany, the Czech Republic, and other countries to Eastern Europe," specified the head of state.

Under the guise of solving the problem of the migration crisis in neighboring countries, a troop grouping was created allegedly to cover the borders from illegal crossing by migrants. Its numerical strength, according to available data alone, exceeded 30,000 people. Ukraine moved more than 6,000 people to the border of Belarus at the initial stage.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched the "Polesie" operation with the aim of preparing their troops for actions in the Belarusian direction, and also began to arm nationalist formations for actions in this direction.

Then, along their northern, eastern, and southern borders, from Lviv to Odesa, they deployed the "Metel-2022" exercise with the involvement of about 30,000 more people. Bias against Belarusian citizens was evident,

moving to Ukraine. And all this against the backdrop of information hysteria, far-fetched accusations of aggression preparation by Belarus.

"Taken together, all these facts clearly indicated the possible preparation by the West for aggression against Belarus and Russia," the President noted.

In the current situation, the heads of state of Belarus and Russia decided to check the response forces of the Union State. "What's new here? We see tension, we decided to check our forces with Putin," Alexander Lukashenko noted.

The final stage of the check was planned to be a joint operational exercise "Union Resolve - 2022". The check was designed to confirm the strength of the two countries' relations and their determination to defend their national interests.

"By the way, upon completion of the exercise, Russian troops prepared to depart for their permanent deployment locations, and some (television showed this) began to leave. However, the West needed a military conflict, and with the accusation of Russia inciting it. Their reaction included not only information leaks and economic measures, but also the readiness to redeploy an eight-thousand-strong group to Europe, of which about two thousand had already arrived by February 20 near our border. Biden sent rapid response forces - the most prepared servicemen - from various theaters of military operations to us. The question is, what do they need here near Belarus? - the President said. - The pumping of Ukraine with weapons was simply off the charts, American planes with anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as other weapons and ammunition arrived daily. Simultaneously, the Armed Forces of Ukraine significantly increased the number of strikes on civilian objects in Donbas with missiles and large-caliber artillery, killing innocent people."

"You remember, very recently thousands of refugees flooded into Russia. I was with Putin at that time," the Belarusian leader noted.

"In the current situation, I asked the President of Russia to leave only part of the forces to cover the Gomel direction specifically. Because the middle of our border with Ukraine is impassable thickets and swamps, rivers. We have something to cover the Brest direction, there is a good brigade stationed there and not only. But the Gomel direction and others, due to the fact that we never intended to fight with Ukraine and never thought that Ukraine would threaten us, we never deployed the Armed Forces there," stated Alexander Lukashenko.

"Due to the increased military activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the resumption of hostilities along the line of contact between the parties, the heads of the DPR and LPR requested military assistance from the Russian Federation. As you know, it was provided," the President noted.

"And Russia was left with no choice," stated the Belarusian leader. "At that time, and I primarily, understood what could happen to us. But we did not get involved in the conflict, we did not provoke anyone. I repeat again: it was important for me to cover the southern state border. And the border is very difficult. It is not a border in the West."

He recalled that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, made the decision to conduct a special military operation in Donbas. "Naturally, the use of the troop grouping remaining on the territory of Belarus was envisaged. And I was informed about this at 5 a.m. on February 24. Before making such a decision, our intelligence and the Russians detected several anti-aircraft and missile divisions on the territory of Ukraine in close proximity to the Belarusian border (this was on the evening of February 23, before 11 p.m.), which were prepared to strike at Russian troops in concentration areas on our territory. At those troops that I asked Putin to leave in Belarus," the head of state said.

According to him, the Americans were leaking intelligence to the Ukrainian side: "The satellites were circling over our territory. It is very difficult to hide anything now, and no one was hiding anything. All intelligence data was transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Otherwise, why would they have brought heavy weapons to our border."

Simultaneously with the announcement of the decision to conduct the operation, Russia carried out a preemptive strike on this heavy weaponry and positions to prevent its losses and impact on Belarus. "If this had not been done, these missiles would have flown into Gomel and Mozyr," the head of state noted.

"BELTA"