Posted on 02/22/2015 3:36:52 PM PST by WhiskeyX
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka says his country is ready for a "constructive dialogue" with NATO.
Speaking to top Belarusian military officials in Minsk on February 19, Lukashenka said: "As a sovereign state we are open, in particular, to constructive dialogue with NATO on parity and transparency principles."
He added that "we have a lot of common issues [with NATO]; joint work on which fully meets Belaruss interests."
Lukashenka -- who has ruled for 21 years and been called the last dictator of Europe -- said the fighting in Ukraine has shown that Belarus must have an army capable of protecting "its national interests."
"If need be, we have to be able to defend the independence and sovereignty of our country," he said.
Lukashenka added that additional finances will be allocated for the ongoing systemic renovation of arms in Belarusian armed forces which is scheduled to be accomplished by 2020.
Based on reporting by BelTA and Interfax
True. By the way Lukashencko is an ethnic Ukrainian, his name has to be finished with ‘cko’.
“The thing is Lukashenko is even more of a Commie than Putin is.”
So was Tito in Yugoslavia, but that did not stop the Russian Soviet efforts to overthrow Tito and take revenge on the FRY (Former Republic of Yugoslavia) after Tito’s detah. It must always be remembered that the leadership of the Soviet Union and the KGB were organizations of Russian criminals or Russian Mafia who only used Communism as a front for their criminal gangster activities. They actually scorned Russians who were stupid enough to buy into the Communist dogma.
According to his Wikipedia biography, he was born in Belarus. His grandfather was from Ukraine. His mother was unmarried.
I have run across Slavic masculine names which end in -a. For example, Ivica Racan (now deceased) was Prime Minister of Croatia for several years. I used to know an immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who had been one of his students and who was as far to the left as he was.
Nikita Khrushchev is another example.
Granted, first names in -a are usually feminine. But Lukashenka is a surname anyway.
It is Lukashenka in Belorussian and Lukashenko in Russian.
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