Page 61 - Lukashenko News Today

100%, all in, for a full-scale invasion from the north of this country, from belarus? >> two points there, i think, erin. first, absolutely, lukashenko is going to do exactly what hes told because his position in power depends upon it. there is no meaningful resistance in belarus against his government, because his kgb which is still called the kgb pushes down and just simply kills people if they go against him. so the support for putin is pretty much complete from the belarusian angle but the o...

Lukashenko and whats happening with the separatists in eastern ukraine and all of that and the increase in troops rather than withdrawal speaks to an intention to invade or continuing threats which is not sustainable. this is united nato presence at least for now. theyre hoping this unity will back putin down and theyre saying if you are committed to diplomacy as you say, lets see some signs of it on the ground. >> andrea mitchell in munich, thank you very much. >> richard, is that whats happeni...

Begin military operations, for example, rockets, artillery and armored vehicles, they could use them on russian ground before they get into ukraine. they can achieve objectives with the positioning not in ukraine. that works to putins advantage, right? he can hover over ukraine. he is in his own territory. he has every right to do what he wants to do in russia. irrespective, of his view, what the rest of the world says right now. . >> and all the troop positions to the north are allred, radio it...

That would mean a long highway through russia or to intimidate lithuania, estonia, latvia. thats his game, to bully, scare? >> lukashenko is the perfect bully. perfectly under putins control. a bunch of really nervous nato countries bordering belarus if they go in that direction in an aggressive fashion. >> steve hall, thank you for your insights as we follow this horrific incident in ukraine. well give you a firsthand look after the break. can watch i s through your phone? and yall got electr...

Did or didnt but a lot came from belarus. belarus says it wasnt their soldiers but they are one with russia. is it at this point essentially belarus and russia just one place, is that a border with any distinction? >> certainly in the context of ukraine and i would argue that probably not. i mean, lukashenko is essentially a lapdog of putin on a very short leash. the russian military can do pretty much whatever it wants and lukashenko and the belarusians wont do anything and thats useful. you ha...

Dacha, he never listened to anybody. he has nobody to tell him, mr. president, i think youre going too far here. hes completely disconnected from society. he has zero connection with the society now. and out in the world, you know, basically, has xi jinping as the only person he respects. as a result of that, i think hes making really bad decisions. and that is worrisome to me. >> ambassador taylor, as someone who has been in ukraine next door, you know zelenskyy so well, the world has been extr...

Virginia. first, your reaction to the news out of belarus. shutting down, suspending operations in the embassy. the significance? >> the significance is it points to the growing involvement of belarus in this war. the belarusian dictator, lukashenko, has given up his countrys sovereignty and made belarus an adjunct of russia. and thats an additional risk to ukraine. i will say, though, i dont like it when the united states state department closes embassies. i think we should be willing to take m...

Civilians here are often times caught amid the cross fire. the most concerning, and we are was from the president of belarus, there are reports today that the ukrainians could consider targeting inside the territory of belarus since many of the missiles and fighter jets are taking off from there. if this happens, lukashenko says that carpet bombing is a possibility not only in the city but across ukraine, it would be devastating on the civilians. the total would be incalculable. >> kayleigh here...

Fight with russia. what is that an indication of? >> putin wants lukashenko, leader in belarus, to provide additional forces, number one. putin wasnt able to get my initial objectives accomplished, so i need some additional reinforcements. number two, realize up here, they were conducting exercises in advance of the invasion, remember, brianna? so they have some recent scar tissue, if you will, in terms of working together. theyve worked through some problems, they worked through their command c...

When russia invaded and subsequently annexed the region of crimea. would you ever think then youd see putin launch an all-out war against ukraine? what do you think has changed since then? >> i have to say in 2014 this wasnt something we were foreseeing. we of course feared he would push further to the east, that he would try to take a city like mariupol in order to create a landbridge to crimea but this all-out assault on the entire country, honestly, wasnt something that we believed at that ti...