Lukashenka: “I’m counting on Bill...”

Alyaksandr Lukashenka hopes former US President Bill Clinton may soon return to policy that will improve relations between Belarus and the United States. He told it in an interview to Agency France Press on November 24.

US President elect Barack Obama suggested Bill Clinton’s wife Hilary a post of US Secretary of State and she accepted it. Besides, the new administration will consist of other officials from Bill Clinton’s government.

In Lukashenka’s view, Belarus and the United States will start negotiations. “I'm counting on this. I'm counting on Bill,” the Belarusian president said. He told about his “friendly” relations with the former US president.

“We want a normal dialogue and I think if Bill tells Hillary about this... she'll listen - also because he played a big role in the Democrats' election campaign," Lukashenka said.

"If the European Union and the Americans want this so much and are ready to offer us something then... we'll cancel the slander article,” Alyaksandr Lukashenka said.

The Belarusian ruler also spoke about political prisoners. “I'm pretty bored of this question about so-called political prisoners. There are no political crimes and there can therefore be no political prisoners. They're common criminals," A. Lukashenka said. He noted, “We released them.” “But if you think these political prisoners are going to be released and are going to completely change life here, you're wrong. They're complete has-beens,” the AFP quotes him.

What concerns young activists, detained at opposition demonstrations, according to A. Lukashenka they were “unconscious and drunk” and needed their sentences of 10 or 15 days in prison to recover.

Answering a question on global financial crisis’s influence on Belarusian economy, he stressed that crisis made everyone, first of the Europeans” learn a lot. “Europeans are talking more and more about the Belarusian model.”

A. Lukashenka also said, “If I'm healthy, if the situation is normal and if people have similar attitudes towards me, then I won't refuse the candidature, I won't turn down participation in the elections.”

Photo: Istanbul, summit of heads of states of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), November, 1999

Archive photo