When asked by journalists whether he was offended that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arrived to the EEU summit in St. Petersburg, but had not earlier visited the CSTO summit in Minsk, Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko noted, “What's the difference? St. Petersburg, Minsk… These are different formats.”
The Head of State said that, even during his telephone conversation with Pashinyan before the Minsk summit, he knew that he would go to St. Petersburg, “When I was talking to him, I asked: ‘Will you go to St. Petersburg?’ He replied: ‘Well, this is a different format, an economic one. We feel aggrieved with the military-political one, the CSTO, but this will focus on the economy’. That's why I knew he would come to St. Petersburg. I supported him in that then, and I support him now. What kind of offense could it be?”
“Won't we lose Armenia?” journalists asked.
“Well, if Armenia wants to die economically, then we can lose it. However, I do not think that Armenians are stupid people. They are smart, and I am sure that Armenia will not go anywhere. Didn’t it see how people were dying in Afghanistan, how they were clinging to the chassis? Do you remember that when Americans were going away? They will use Armenia in the same way and go away. This will be the case, it is their [Americans’] politics. Armenians are smart, they understand that this is exactly what will happen. Who will help them there? France is trying to do something. You see what is happening in France; they should better settle everything domestically before interfering with the Caucasus. They cannot resolve all issues at home, and Armenians see this,” the Head of State said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko explained what the key of the politics is, “The events happening publicly are one side, and the other side is what is occurring outside this publicity. The main processes are taking place there. Due to these processes, Armenia will definitely be with us, since the most important direction of their development is here.”