Russia’s President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Belarus counterpart Alexander Lukashenko (L) during a press conference following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on February 18, 2022.
Sergei Guneyev/Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images
- Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a long-time Putin ally, supports Russia’s war in Ukraine.
- He said over the weekend that it was time for Europe to face a “moral cleansing,” Belta reported.
- He also claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine was escalating tensions with Belarus.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a major ally of Vladimir Putin, has said that Europe should undergo a “moral cleansing,” according to state news agency Belta.
During a government meeting at the weekend, Lukashenko talked about fighting Nazis in the Second World War and said: “The time has come for the forgetful Europe to give itself a moral cleansing.”
“They — all who chose to forget — will have to look again at the grueling evidence of the bloody crimes of their own fathers and grandfathers,” he said, according to Belta.
“I must admit that we were delicately silent. In our Slavic way, we believed that children were not responsible for their parents. We still think so.”
He did not elaborate on what such a cleansing would entail.
As one of Russian President Putin’s staunchest allies, Lukashenko has supported his military operation in Ukraine since it began on February 24.
Lukashenko’s cryptic comments about Nazis echo Putin’s previous claim that Russian forces invaded Ukraine to “denazify” the country and save its Russian-speaking population from “genocide.”
There is no evidence of a genocide being carried out in Ukraine and experts say Putin only says this as part of a broader disinformation campaign.
Lukashenko’s comments come several days after he accused Ukraine of firing missiles at military facilities on his country’s territory. He did not provide any evidence for this claim.
“We are being provoked,” Lukashenko said, Al Jazeera reported.
Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on reports of the blasts in Belarus and the Ukrainian military did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
