Lukashenka: Ukraine should fight for Crimea and return Yanukovich back to the country

Belarus President urged Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and the EU.

After the inauguration ceremony of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, to which Belarus President Aliaksandr Lukashenka was invited, he answered the questions of journalists.

Lukashenka stated that he doesn’t think that the situation in Ukraine is disastrous: “We should all calm down and in the new coming period, I mean the time after the President's election, stabilize the situation. Ukrainians are very hardworking and smart people. They will deal with these problems”, - BelTA quotes him saying.

Belarus President is convinced that Ukrainians can deal with their problems alone. “Ukraine should stay united and it will be so,” Aliaksandr Lukashenka said.

The head of the Belarusian state also admitted that he doesn’t consider Crimean territory to be Ukrainian, as it belongs to Russia de facto. However, “de jure there has been no such decision”. Thus, Lukashenka advices Ukrainian authorities to “follow your path calmly and steadfastly, without any assaults and accusations. It is the main thing. Only then the solution to the issue is possible as you would like it to see.”

Answering the question about the policy in regard to the terrorists in the Eastern Ukraine, Belarus President said that “the militants that fight against the Ukrainian people should be destroyed. But first sort it out or you will kill your people.”

There are no threats for Ukraine from Belarus, emphasized Lukashenka. “We have nothing to divide with Ukrainians; we are brothers”, - noted the President.

Aliaksandr Lukashenka He also advised Ukrainians to “accept your President back”. He promised to do everything possible to return Yanukovich to Ukraine. He stressed that the former president of Ukraine had not asked him for an asylum in Belarus. “Here he has a village where his parents were born. I do not think that anyone can deprive him of the right to visit his village”, - Lukashenka said.