Belarusian President complains to Putin that Ukraine and Baltic countries "seek better life abroad" – video

Alexander Lukashenko, self-proclaimed President of Belarus, has claimed at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Ukraine and Baltic countries "could cooperate with Russia instead of ‘seeking a better life abroad’".

Source: Lukashenko and Putin at a meeting in St Petersburg, as reported by the Pul pervogo Telegram channel and Russian media outlet Interfax

Quote from Lukashenko: "I thought – which country could provide such opportunities to such a country as Belarus? We do not see any issues with Russia… No [other] country would be able to treat Belarus the way you do.

So I’m thinking: what prevents Ukraine and the Baltic countries from cooperating with us like this? This is our world, we have been building it for several decades, we won that horrible war [WW2 – ed.] together. So let’s move in this direction. But no, they don’t want to, they seek a better life abroad."

Details: Lukashenko also said that he thinks Ukraine will "come back" to Russia and Belarus.

At the opening of a monument in Leningrad Oblast to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Leningrad from the siege, Lukashenko said "it would be great if someone from Ukraine was standing here too".

"Three Slavic nations have suffered. But they are absent. What can we do? It’s their choice to take a different path. But I think they will come back to us. They will have no other option," Lukashenko said.

Putin, in his turn, claimed at the beginning of the meeting with Lukashenko in the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg that they would discuss the war against Ukraine.

"Of course, today during our conversation I will inform you in detail about what is happening in the special military operation zone," Putin told Lukashenko.

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