#Lukashenko : No one came out of #mutiny a hero, #Belarus leader tells BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66122337 by the BBC's #Russia editor
excerpts on #nuclear #warheads Russia has said it is moving to Belarus:
"God forbid I should ever have to take the decision to use them," Mr Lukashenko had said recently, adding, "*But I won't hesitate to use them*"
I remind him of those comments.
"Joe Biden could say the same thing, and Prime Minister Sunak," Mr Lukashenko replies. (cont.)
#Lukashenko replies: "And my friend #Xi Jinping and my Big Brother President #Putin ."
"But these are not your #weapons we're talking about," I point out. "They're #Russian ones. It's not your decision to take."
"In #Ukraine a whole army is fighting with foreign weapons, isn't it," the #Belarusian leader retorts. "#Nato weapons. Because they've run out of their own. So why can't I fight with someone else's weapons?"(cont.)
But we're talking #nuclear #weapons, not pistols, I reply.
"Nuclear, yes. They're weapons too. #Tactical nuclear weapons."
I mention the case of jailed #Belarus #opposition activist Maria #Kolesnikova. #Kalesnikava
"For months her relatives and lawyers have been denied access to her in #prison . Why?" I ask.
"I don't know anything about this," he claims." (cont.)
"The last time I interviewed you in the autumn of 2021, there were 873 #political #prisoners in #Belarus ," I remind Mr #Lukashenko . "Now there are 1,500."
"There is no article in our #criminal code for political #crimes ," he replies.
The absence of an article on political crimes doesn't mean there are no political prisoners, I point out.
"Prisoners cannot be political prisoners, if there's no article," he insists. "How can they be?"
Kriszta Satori