October 25. Belarusian President Lukashenko rejected the US Secretary of State Pompeo’s solicitation on the phone on Saturday (24th), and said that Belarus and Russia are ready to jointly respond to external threats.
According to Russian Satellite News Agency:
Belarusian President Lukashenko received a call from US Secretary of State Pompeo on Saturday. Pompeo told Lukashenko that Washington respects the sovereignty of Belarus and seeks to develop bilateral relations.
Lukashenko emphasized to Pompeo that Belarus and Russia are ready to cooperate in response to external threats.
Lukashenko said: “Belarus and Russia are prepared to jointly respond to emerging external threats. In particular, according to the provisions of the Collective Security Treaty on the protection of common space, when Poland, Lithuania or other countries engage in external aggression, Belarus and Russia will Forced to respond.”
At the time of the call, the former presidential candidate of Belarus announced the approaching date of the ultimatum, which threatened Lukashenko that unless he resigned, he would launch a nationwide strike.
Lukashenko has no indication that he has noticed the ultimatum and will resign as president. Earlier, Lukashenko had stated that a new general election can be held, but it must be after the adoption of the new constitution.
The US State Department spokesperson confirmed on the 24th that Pompeo and Lukashenko had a telephone conversation. The spokesperson said in a statement that Pompeo requested the full release of Shkryarov, a US citizen detained by Belarus, and allowed him to leave Belarus immediately; Pompeo also reiterated that the United States “supports the people of Belarus.”
Russian Interfax News Agency reported on this call that Russia does not interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus; but at the same time, the two countries are ready to jointly respond to emerging external threats.
“According to the opinions of both parties, after Pompeo visited Minsk in February this year, the situation has changed dramatically, and new threats have emerged and are emerging.”
