Foreign Ministry calls Lukashenko's statements about US bases in Ukraine 'groundless insinuations'

KYIV. Sept 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, whom the EU and the United States do not recognize as legally elected, is turning his country into a military base for Russia, while repeating the narratives of Russian propaganda about alleged U.S. military bases and militant camps in Ukraine, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleh Nikolenko said.

"Once again we have witnessed the groundless insinuations against Ukraine on the part of Alexander Lukashenko. It is obvious that Alexander Lukashenko has already fully assimilated the templates of Russian propaganda rhetoric regarding threats from Western countries, and Ukraine in particular. Ukraine, while simultaneously transforming our neighboring Belarus into a continuous military base of Russia," Nikolenko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

He said it is from Russia that the main threat to Ukraine, Belarus and the Belarusian people, friendly to Ukraine, is coming today.

"Preserving the sovereignty and independence of Belarus, and not becoming an appendage of Russia, is what Minsk should really think about. Ukraine has never interfered and will not interfere in the affairs of neighboring Belarus. Ukraine will also never pose any threats to the security of the Belarusian people. We will continue to defend our freedom, independence and free democratic choice of the Ukrainian people in favor of European and Euro-Atlantic integration with all our forces and means," the spokesperson said.

Nikolenko said that Ukraine is doing this because it shares European values. "We do this not against someone, but solely because we see the future of Ukraine in a united family of free European peoples, where the value of life, human dignity and democratic choice are unshakable. And the same future meets the interests of Belarus," he said.