Lukashenka urged to take a step towards those who fled from Belarus

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko urged to make a “step towards” the citizens of the republic, who “made a mistake” and left the country for various reasons. About this he declared during a visit to the church in the monastery complex of the St. Elisabeth Convent on December 7, the BelTA agency reports.

According to Lukashenka, many people who fled from Belarus, “thousands” turn to the authorities of the republic with a request to return, as they began to understand that they are “not needed anywhere except their land.”

“The time has come when we, the representatives of the authorities, I, as the head of state, and you, the clergy, our people, must take a step towards these people, who either went crazy or lost their bearings for some time, made a mistake. And it will probably be in our way, in the Orthodox way, if we take this step towards them,” he said.

The President stressed that support for those who left should not be provided according to the requirements of the West. “I talk less about it, but every day the demand is to return everything and everything, even those who break the law. No. Everyone must answer for his own,” Lukashenka said. “Deeply repentant” people should not be thrown to the sidelines – a difficult situation is already developing around Belarus, so points of tension should not be created in society, he believes.

September 22 at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin Lukashenka expressed confidence that Russian citizens who left after the announcement of partial mobilization in the country will return. The Belarusian leader said that he was “not particularly worried” when several thousand people left his country in 2020, and most of them are already “asking to return.” “We just need to decide what to do with them: either let them go here, or let them feed there on free bread. You can’t do that,” he concluded.

In 2020, after the presidential elections in Belarus, protests continued in the country for several months. According to the official statistics of the CEC, 80.08% of the citizens of Belarus who came to the polls voted for Lukashenka then. Another 10.09% supported opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. The latter claimed that the election results were falsified and initiated the creation of the Opposition Coordinating Council. The authorities of the republic opened criminal cases against a number of opposition leaders.