Lukashenko explained his non-recognition of Crimea by the actions of Russian oligarchs

Until now, Belarus has not recognized the legality of the annexation of Crimea to Russia. The formal position of Belarus is that Crimea continues to be a part of Ukraine. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities call Crimea "a territory occupied by Russia". Many NATO member states are of the same opinion.

“When will Belarus recognize Crimea? I answer publicly: when the last oligarch in Russia recognizes Crimea and starts supplying food there. The matter will not rust for me”, - RBC quotes the statement of the Belarusian president.

Lukashenko said that he was ready to "step over" the previously signed documents, including the Budapest Declaration signed by him, concerning security guarantees for Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and the connection with the transfer of nuclear weapons from these countries to Russia by these countries. In the event of a threat of a nuclear strike against these countries, they have the right to count on international assistance.

“My signature is there, but I will step over this too. My hands are untied. I recognize Crimea and everything else”, - Lukashenko said.

Crimea became part of Russia in March 2014 following a referendum, over 95% of the participants in which spoke in favor of the republic joining the Russian Federation.

The EU, the United States and many other countries did not recognize the results of the referendum and continue to consider Crimea to be Ukrainian. For the "annexation" (illegal seizure) of the territory of a neighboring state, many countries have introduced economic sanctions against the Russian Federation. Russia responded by imposing counter-sanctions. Until now, Belarus also did not officially recognize Crimea as Russian.

At the same time, Western sanctions are also in effect against the republic, but the reason for their introduction was massive human rights violations in the country, as well as non-recognition of the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus and accusations of the Lukashenko regime of "air piracy" after the forced landing of a Ryanair aircraft in Minsk.

About a year ago, answering questions from representatives of the Crimean public in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that Minsk has the right to its own point of view. He recalled that Belarus and Russia have a union, but not a single state.

“Belarus is an independent sovereign country and has the right to pursue the foreign policy that it considers appropriate and useful”, - Putin said.

President Lukashenko has said more than once that he considers the issue of the peninsula's ownership closed. In an interview with Russian journalists, he recalled that back in 2014, when asked about this region, he answered: "De facto, Crimea is Russian." At the same time, Minsk has not yet officially announced that it recognizes the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

“What will change after I now declare that Crimea is ours or Russian? Nothing! Well, they will make some noise, in Russia it will be news in the evening, and in the morning they will forget... They will forget and will not say thanks. In the West, maybe someone will notice, somewhere else... Our people will think why I got into this, so much time has passed... In Ukraine they will say "dog" and spit in my direction. As a result, what will we get?", - said Lukashenko.