Vladimir Putin’s ally, Alexander Lukashenko, just suggested Russia “bears the greatest burden” in the world and “suffers more than anyone else”.
Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, is one of Putin’s closest allies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While much of the international community – particularly the West – has severed ties with Moscow, neighbouring nation Belarus has remained close.
So it was no surprise that Putin and Lukashenko seemed very friendly when they spoke at the Supreme State Council of the Union State of Russia and Belarus earlier this week.
According to Lukashenko on Monday, he and Putin had discussed the whole world “from the South Pole to the North Pole”.
He claimed the two leaders have “really done some very serious work” in their discussions, Russian state news agency, TASS, reported.
Lukashenko said: “Take the aspirations of Russia and Belarus, and the People’s Republic of China.
“Russia is at the forefront of this, because it bears the greatest burden and suffers more than anyone else.”
It’s not clear exactly what Lukashenko was referring to here.
While Moscow has faced some economic difficulties since the war broke out – linked to the retaliatory sanctions issued by the West – most of the war is still being fought in Ukraine.
And it was Russia who invaded Ukraine back in February 2022.
Approximately 3.6 million people in Ukraine are now displaced and around 6.3 million others have sought refuge abroad as of January 2024, according to humanitarian aid organisation World Vision.
Referring to the brewing geopolitical tensions around the world right now, Lukashenko continued: “The reason for all of this is the Houthis, the Middle East, the South China Sea, and problems with Taiwan.
“It’s all because the multipolar world is coming,” the Belarusian leader said, while also claiming that the West has “resorted to armed conflicts” to preserve its status.
The West is not actually directly engaged in a war with Russia, but it is supporting Ukraine.
The US and the UK have also launched missile strikes at Houthi rebels in the Red Sea recently but maintain the West is not at war with the Middle East.
Still, Russia has routinely accused the West of supposedly provoking Moscow into invading Ukraine by expanding NATO eastwards.
And even over the weekend, at a World War 2 memorial, Putin lashed out at supposed “Russophobia” in Europe.