Lukashenko Says Russia Missed Opportunity To Seize Ukraine in 2014: 'The Only Mistake We Made'

Russian Ally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, said Moscow should have seized Ukrainian territory in 2014 when Vladimir Putin illegally invaded Crimea and annexed it from Kyiv. 

What Happened: Lukashenko said "the only mistake" Moscow and Minsk made was "that we didn't resolve this issue in 2014-2015, when Ukraine had no army and wasn't prepared."

Lukashenko made the comments in a Thursday meeting with the heads of security agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, made up of former Soviet member countries. 

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The Belarusian leader said, "We saw this coming," referring to the Russia-Ukraine war. If the war had not begun last year, "it would have started tomorrow, but with worse conditions for Russia and Belarus," he said. 

"The only mistake we made, probably, is that we didn't resolve this issue in 2014-2015 when Ukraine had no army. We wanted to settle it peacefully. They, however, used this time to develop combat-ready armed forces."

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Why It Matters: The Belarusian dictator is a staunch supporter of Putin and helped the Kremlin launch its full-scale Ukraine invasion last year. Earlier this month, Moscow also moved ahead with its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Minsk, driving massive criticism from the U.S. and its allies. 

Lukashenko earlier this week also said that he would offer nuclear weapons to nations willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus.” 

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