INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko Thursday said Russia, Ukraine and the West must agree to halt the Ukraine conflict to avoid the
"abyss of nuclear war" and insisted Kyiv should accept Moscow's demands."We must stop, reach an agreement, end this mess, operation and war
in Ukraine," Lukashenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin's top ally, told AFP in an exclusive interview in Minsk."Let's stop and then we
Further lies the abyss of nuclear war
There's no need to go there," he said, speaking on the 148th day of Moscow's offensive in Ukraine.Lukashenko accused the West of seeking a
conflict with Russia and of provoking the Ukraine war."You have fomented the war and are continuing it," he said."We have seen the reasons
said, echoing Putin.Belarus has served as a staging ground for Russia's intervention in Ukraine, but Lukashenko has so far avoided becoming
a party to the conflict.'Everything depends on Ukraine'Analysts say that he is keenly aware of the fact that most Belarusians do not support
sending troops into Ukraine.The 67-year-old leader, who has ruled Belarus for nearly three decades, insisted that Kyiv authorities can end
the war if they re-start talks with Moscow and accept its demands."Everything depends on Ukraine," he said."Right now, the peculiarity of
table and agree that they will never threaten Russia."Talks between Russia and Ukraine largely ground to a halt in mid-April.Lukashenko said
that Ukraine must accept the loss of territory occupied by Russia in eastern and southern Ukraine."This is no longer being discussed," he
"One could have discussed this in February or March."On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that peace talks with Ukraine
"make no sense", and announced that Moscow's military aims in the pro-Western country were no longer focused "only" on the east.Lukashenko
has sought to promote himself as Putin's most faithful ally, welcoming Russian troops under the pretext of military exercises before Moscow
in any talks and a deal to end the conflict.Lukashenko insisted that the war could have been avoided if Western countries had given Putin
"the security guarantees" he wanted."You, members of NATO and Americans, needed war."Belarus is 'authoritarian'Speaking of his opponents at
home, Lukashenko admitted that he ran an authoritarian state but claimed there were no political prisoners in his isolated country."Yes, our
system of power is tougher
I even do not rule out the word 'authoritarian'," Lukashenko said.Belarus rights group Viasna says the country currently has 1,259 political
being held in prison.Referring to people who took part in historic protests against Lukashenko's controversial re-election in 2020, he said:
"These people spoke out against the state
"elements of authoritarianism.""I do not even remember if those prominent bandits, who fomented this mutiny, if they are in prison," he
against Lukashenko in the August 2020 polls in place of her jailed husband.She now leads the Belarusian opposition from exile in Lithuania,
1994, Lukashenko has kept his landlocked homeland, wedged between Russia and EU member Poland, largely stuck in a Soviet time warp.A quarter
of a century after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., the tightly controlled eastern European nation still has a security service called the KGB,
adheres to a command economy and looks to former master Moscow as its main ally, creditor and energy provider.Lukashenko reiterated that his
political opponents were financed from abroad, mainly from Poland."What, did you want me to sit quietly?" he said, claiming that the
