{"id":11409,"date":"2022-05-06T14:55:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T11:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-sends-peaceful-message-to-west-afraid-to-make-concessions\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-sends-peaceful-message-to-west-afraid-to-make-concessions","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t * Reprinting is allowed\n<\/p>\n

\n State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated Press\u2019 interview with Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Ukraine\u2019s resistance to Russia\u2019s onslaught has forced Luka\u0161enka to tone down his rhetoric.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Weeks before the February 24 invasion, he predicted that the war would last no more than four days and promised that Belarusian troops would take part in Russia\u2019s campaign, if necessary.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Two months later, he denied Belarus\u2019 involvement in Russia\u2019s military campaign and said he was doing his best to stop the war.\n<\/p>\n

War drags on<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Luka\u0161enka said he did not expect the 10-week-old conflict to \u201cdrag on this way.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Observers noted that the Belarusian ruler initially had backed the Russian campaign, hoping to benefit from Russia\u2019s quick victory. He offered Russian troops Belarus\u2019 territory and infrastructure for staging attacks. Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarus in a failed operation to capture Kyiv. Wounded Russian soldiers were taken back to Belarus and treated at Belarusian hospitals.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Now that the blitzkrieg has failed, and the West has imposed severe sanctions on both Russia and Belarus, Luka\u0161enka claims that his country was not involved at all, hoping to get away with it.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He said that the Ukrainian president cannot to stop the hostilities, but added that U.S. President Joe Biden could do it. As if it was Biden who gave Russian troops orders to attack Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t “The U.S. wants to seize the moment, tying its allies to itself, and drown Russia in the war with Ukraine,” he said. The statement is simply preposterous. The United States did not start the war. Obviously, Russia is drowning itself in it.\n<\/p>\n

Less aggressive tone on nuclear weapons<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Although Luka\u0161enka lashed out at both Washington and Kyiv, he distanced himself from the Kremlin\u2019s threat to use nuclear weapons. A few months ago, he said that Belarus was ready to host Russian nuclear weapons and had the necessary infrastructure for it.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In the latest interview, he said the use of nuclear weapons was unacceptable.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t “We do not threaten anyone and we are not going to threaten and will not do it. Moreover, we can\u2019t threaten – we know who opposes us. . . So the West can sleep peacefully,” he added.\n<\/p>\n

Time to wriggle out<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Ukraine\u2019s resistance and the West\u2019s determination to help Ukraine and hold those responsible for war crimes to account have prompted Luka\u0161enka to change his tactic in an attempt to maneuver his way out of trouble.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Recent polls showed strong anti-war sentiment in Belarus, including among Luka\u0161enka stalwarts. Prime Minister Raman Halo\u016d\u010danka on May 5 decried serious economic pressure on Belarus from the West.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Luka\u0161enka is trying cautiously to distance himself from Moscow with its threats to use nuclear weapons.\n<\/p>\n

Minsk afraid to use its usual bargaining chips<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Luka\u0161enka seems reluctant to use his bargaining chips to draw the West into negotiations. He does not dare to demand that Moscow withdraw Russian troops from Belarus. He is reluctant to release political prisoners. Quite the contrary, he has directed security services to intensify the crack down on extremists, the label he uses very often to refer to his political opponents. New draconian laws are in the pipeline to fight dissent.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He does not seem ready for negotiations and does not contemplate a political thaw. His dependence on Moscow has increased dramatically after Russia invaded Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated Press\u2019 interview with Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka. Ukraine\u2019s resistance to Russia\u2019s onslaught has forced Luka\u0161enka to tone down his rhetoric. Weeks before the February 24 invasion, he predicted that the war would last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11409","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Pozirk_online\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\"},\"headline\":\"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T11:55:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\"},\"wordCount\":593,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\",\"name\":\"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T11:55:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Pozirk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Pozirk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk","description":"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk","og_description":"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated","og_url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/","og_site_name":"Pozirk","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","article_modified_time":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Pozirk_online","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/"},"headline":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions","datePublished":"2022-05-06T11:55:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/"},"wordCount":593,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/","name":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions | Pozirk","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-06T11:55:06+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13+00:00","description":"By Aliaksandr Klasko\u016dski, BPN * Reprinting is allowed State media have played up the Belarusian ruler\u2019s peace efforts in their coverage of the Associated","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11409\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Luka\u0161enka sends peaceful message to West, afraid to make concessions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","name":"Pozirk","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#organization","name":"Pozirk","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/cropped-Logo_color_512.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Pozirk"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pozirkonline\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Pozirk_online"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/longreads\/11409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/longreads"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/longreads"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"rubric","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rubric?post=11409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}