President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko announced on November 25 that he had information of the presidential candidates Vladimir Niakliaeu and Andrei Sannikov receiving funds from Russia. "We have the facts. Vladimir Niakliaeu, Andrei Sannikov are the people, financed by Russia today," the Belarusian leader said.
The head of state in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro has stated that the current opposition candidates are not ready for the campaign. «If the presidential campaign for them is an illusion, then, please, they have a right not to participate in this illusion. And if they are real politicians, they must take responsibility and fight for this post. In my opinion, they aren’t ready to lead the campaign,» Alexander Lukashenko said.
President of Belarus also reported that he had heard the speeches of some opposition candidates. «The anger, they’re spreading today, will only lead to the fact that they’ll scare people and make them refuse to vote in their support. Therefore, it’s not the Belarusian variant to pour all this anger over the people out of the screen,» Alexander Lukashenko noted. In his opinion, the elections should go with the good and offer only the good to the people.»
Lukashenko Declared his Readiness to Cooperate with Opposition
However, the current president did not rule out the possibility of cooperation with the opposition. He said, one should be directed to improving people’s lives. «I am the president of the country and represent all the people today. If some kind of citizen or group of people or a party is willing to cooperate with the authorities, including the president, you are welcome. Improvement of people’s lives must be the basis for this,» BelTA quoted the head of state.
Alexander Lukashenko has stressed that if the representatives of Belarusian opposition are «willing and ready to act in terms of the current policy of Belarus and they are capable in their ability to work on some post,» they have such a chance.
At the same time Alexander Lukashenko noted that the current «so-called opposition in Belarus is still operating from a position of «the worse — the better»: the worse for the people — the better for them.» «And I’m going to cooperate neither with the opposition, nor with any other citizens of Belarus or foreign countries on such basis. My goal is improve people’s lives, rather than to make them worse,» the Belarusian leader stressed.
