Lukashenko, a key Moscow ally, has accused the West of supporting Nazi ideas and being “at war with Russia” in Ukraine.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has called on members of a Russian-led military alliance to unite, as he accused the West of prolonging the conflict in Ukraine to weaken Moscow .

Speaking at a summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) leaders in Moscow, Lukashenko said “hellish sanctions” against his country and Russia could have been avoided had the group talked about one voice.

“Without a united front, the collective West will increase the pressure on the post-Soviet space,” Lukashenko said, addressing President Putin and the leaders of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Sanctions imposed on Belarus have blocked between $16 billion and $18 billion of its annual exports to the West, state news agency Belta reported on Sunday, citing Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko.

“Because of the sanctions, almost all exports from Belarus to European Union and North American countries have been blocked,” Golovchenko said, according to a transcript of an interview with Al Arabiya-based TV. in Dubai and published by Belta.

“At war with Russia”

Lukashenko had previously insisted that Minsk must be involved in negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, adding that his country had been unfairly branded “an accomplice of the aggressor”.

The 67-year-old leader, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist since 1994, also accused the West of supporting Nazi ideas and being “at war with Russia” in Ukraine.

“Nazi supporters are obsessed with the idea of ​​revenge, but they are not ready to fight openly against the heirs of the Soviet people,” Lukashenko said during a speech on Victory Day, an annual holiday. in Russia and other ex-Soviet countries. to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.

“That’s why they are flooding Ukraine with weapons, waging war on memorials, symbols and veterans,” he said.

When Russia sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, Moscow’s army entered from Belarus, as well as from its own territory and from annexed Crimea.

Lukashenko argued that Belarus was not the aggressor but an ally and strategic partner of Russia.

“Nobody abroad cares that the Belarusian army is not involved in the fighting,” he said, adding that these “attempts to suffocate” Belarus “will only strengthen it.”