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Macron at 2023 Globsec summit: ‘We pushed Belarus toward Russia’
Speaking at the 2023 Globsec summit in Bratislava on May 31, French President Emmanuel Macron
claimed Western sanctions “pushed Belarus toward Russia.”
“We put him (Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko) in a situation to be trapped in the end by the Russians,” Macron said, referring to Western sanctions imposed against Minsk in the aftermath of the fraudulent 2020 Belarusian presidential election and subsequent crackdown on civil society.
“If your question is do I think we should be more aggressive with Belarus, my answer is no. I think it would be a mistake for us to enlarge the conflict,” the French president said.
“Second, we have to keep pressuring them (Belarus) to avoid joining the war,” Macron said, adding that while Russia has used Belarus as a launching pad for Moscow’s war, “Belarus is not part of this war and not deploying troops, soldiers, and capacities to Ukraine.”
While Macron acknowledged that the country’s 2020 presidential elections were “fake,” and Lukashenko’s regime does not respect the rule of law or elections, Belarus “was a country where, as a president and part of this administration, wanted to join NATO and was very careful with Russia."
Belarus is a co-belligerent in Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, having facilitated lethal Russian attacks on Ukraine since 2022, despite the absence of its own troops on the ground. Lukashenko himself has admitted Belarus’ involvement.