Lukashenko: bridge between East and West

President Alexander Lukashenko stated in his speech on January 19, 2026: "We want to be not some dividing line, we want to be a bridge between East and West, as it has always been." He emphasized that the European Union is "a powerful, technologically advanced union." According to Lukashenko, "intelligent people live here, a huge number of people." The president called for cooperation so as not to look at each other askance, and stressed that "We [Belarus and Russia] should not be divided, it's already hard to separate us."