Alexander Lukashenko Warns Belarus ‘Will Die as a State’ If It Agrees to Hold New Elections

On Saturday, the Belarusian president ordered an air assault brigade to be transferred from Vitebsk region in the country's northeast to Grodno region near Belarus's borders with Poland and Lithuania after expressing concerns about increasing military activity in those two NATO nations.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has given his first public address since last Sunday's presidential elections and the week of turmoil which has followed, and emphasized that he would not agree to any new round of elections demanded from abroad.

"Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and, unfortunately, our kindred Ukraine and its leadership are ordering us to hold new elections. If we agree to toe the line, we will go into a tailspin and never again stabilize our airship [of state]. We will die as a state, as a people, as a nation," Lukashenko said, speaking before thousands of supporters on Independence Square in central Minsk on Sunday. "I will never agree to the scrapping of our state. This will not happen," he stressed.
Lukashenko also warned about an alleged buildup of NATO forces, including tanks and aircraft, on Belarus's western borders.

"Look around: there are tanks, there aircraft are taking off 15 minutes from our borders. And this is not for nothing! NATO forces are clanging their tank tracks at our gates. A buildup of military power is taking place near the western border," Lukashenko said. "They [the opposition] are already being manipulated by outsiders, by puppeteers. They see the western borders of Belarus here, near Minsk, as it was in 1939, and not near Brest," he added. "This will not happen. We will become Brest Fortress. We will not give up the country."...
 SPUTNIK