Latest news with #Lukashenko
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Xi Tells Lukashenko China Will Hold Military Parade on Sept. 3
President Xi Jinping said China will hold a military parade to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II on Sept. 3, an event that's expected to bring his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Beijing. The Chinese leader disclosed the plan for the first time during a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Wednesday at the Communist Party's leadership compound known as Zhongnanhai. Xi invited Lukashenko to attend the September celebration as well as a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Belarus's state-run news agency Belta reported.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Putin Rallies 'True Friends' Before Russia's Revenge; Shoigu In N. Korea, Lukashenko Meets Xi
Is an anti-West axis forming faster than expected? Just days after Ukraine's daring drone strikes deep inside Russia, Moscow's allies are rallying. Belarusian President Lukashenko landed in Beijing, where Xi Jinping welcomed him as a 'true friend' and vowed deeper strategic cooperation. Isolated by sanctions and shunned by the West, Belarus is doubling down on ties with China. Meanwhile, Russia's top security chief, Sergei Shoigu, arrived in North Korea for high-level talks with Kim Jong Un, signaling intensifying military coordination under the 2024 strategic agreement. As Belarus tilts East and Pyongyang embraces Moscow, a clear four-nation bloc—Russia, China, Belarus, North Korea—is emerging in defiance of the Western-led world order.
Al Arabiya
3 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Lukashenko says China, Belarus facing western ‘pressure'
President Alexander Lukashenko said Belarus and China are both facing a pressure campaign from the West, as he met with Xi Jinping in Beijing on Wednesday. Lukashenko told his Chinese counterpart that their nations are up against 'unprecedented pressure' from the West, according to the Belarusian state news agency Belta. 'China will not allow the world order to be broken,' Lukashenko added. 'Many, many nations are convinced of this.' The Belarusian leader, who in January won a seventh consecutive term after a widely criticized election, has ruled ex-Soviet Belarus for more than 30 years. He is in China for a three-day state visit this week after last visiting in December 2023. According to state broadcaster CCTV, Xi told Lukashenko that China has 'always viewed and developed its relations with Belarus from a strategic and long-term perspective.' Xi added that China is 'willing to work with Belarus to promote stable and far-reaching bilateral relations and mutually beneficial cooperation', CCTV said.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Sanctions-hit Belarus lauded by Xi as China's true friend
FILE PHOTO: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Volgograd, Russia, April 29, 2025. Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo FILE PHOTO: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko review the honour guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 1, 2023. cnsphoto via REUTERS /File Photo BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Belarus as a true friend of China as he met Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of the sanctions-hit European nation, on Wednesday and urged the Russian ally to join Beijing in opposing "hegemony and bullying". Lukashenko's visit to Beijing was his first since he was declared a winner of January's presidential election that extended his 31-year rule of the former Soviet republic. Western governments had rejected his victory as a sham. The Belarusian economy has been bruised by Western sanctions and trade tariffs due to its backing of Russia's war in Ukraine. Severed from Western markets, Minsk, which had allowed Russian forces to use its territory to stage its invasion of Ukraine, has increasingly pivoted to the East. Xi, greeting Lukashenko in Zhongnanhai, the seat of power in Beijing, congratulated him on his re-election, Xinhua reported, adding that China and Belarus were "true friends and good partners." "The traditional friendship between the two countries has endured for a long time, political mutual trust is unbreakable," Xi said. Both countries should also oppose "hegemony and bullying, and defend international fairness and justice," Xi told Lukashenko. "You have very accurately pointed out the main feature of our time - the unprecedented pressure from the West on us, primarily on the People's Republic of China," Belarus' state news agency BelTA cited Lukashenko as saying. "And today, the eyes of many countries, including Belarus, are turned toward you - to Beijing," Lukashenko said. Last month, Xi visited Vladimir Putin in Russia and vowed to stay as "friends of steel" in a new world order that should no longer by dominated by the United States. Russia and China have come under renewed pressure from Washington since Donald Trump returned to the White House, with Moscow urged to quickly end the war in Ukraine and Beijing subject to new trade tariffs. Lukashenko, who has visited China 15 times over the years, has counted on Beijing as a provider of credit and investment, even as Belarus is considered to lie within Moscow's traditional sphere of influence. Minsk is also turning to Beijing for help transform and upgrade its industries, officially becoming a BRICS partner-nation and member-state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) last year. However, economic imbalances remain even as China pledges to deepen bilateral cooperation. China's trade surplus with Belarus widened by 47.6% to $4.77 billion in 2024 from a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data, with China's export of cars, digital television receivers and washing machines far exceeding its purchases of Belarusian products including farm fertilisers. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Zelensky Issues Warning to Europe Over Russia's Belarus ‘Planning'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned about the threat posed by Belarus, whose autocratic leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally. "Ask your intelligence what Russia is planning this summer in Belarus," Zelensky told reporters in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Monday. His comment follows the ruling regime in Minsk announcing that joint Zapad-2025 strategic military exercises with Russia will be held further inland in Belarus. Franak Viačorka, chief political adviser to Sviatlana Tsihanouskaya, who leads the Belarusian opposition to Lukashenko's authoritarian rule, told Newsweek on Tuesday that the drills include "hostile scenarios" against the West. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries for comment. Lukashenko has not directly joined Putin in the war against Ukraine but, as the Russian leader's closest ally, has permitted Moscow's forces to use Belarusian territory for attacks since 2022. Zelensky's warning will add to concerns that Putin's control of Lukashenko could see Belarus again used as a staging post for attacks on Ukraine, which would increase the risk to NATO's eastern border. Zelensky called on allies to seek intelligence on Minsk's plans during the Zapad joint military exercises scheduled for September. He said Monday that if Russia and Belarus are "bold enough to prepare attacks from there, then we need more strength together." Zelensky previously warned that Russian troop training in Belarus could mark "the beginning of a full-scale invasion, similar to the one we saw in 2022," posing risks to Ukraine and neighboring NATO states. Held every two years since 2009, no Zapad exercise took place in 2023. Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin announced that September's exercises would be relocated further inland within Belarus to "reduce tensions." But the drills are seen by analysts and Ukrainian officials as potential cover for Russian troop deployments. Viačorka took part in Zapad drills as part of mandatory service a decade and a half ago in Lukashenko's army as punishment for his opposition political activities. He told Newsweek that the drills consisted of anti-Western and pro-Russian military training, including scenarios such as dropping a nuclear bomb over Warsaw. "These are hostile scenarios. They do it primarily to threaten. It's a part of psychological informational warfare," he said on Tuesday, adding that they pose a threat to Poland and Lithuania, as well as Ukraine. In 2023, Ukraine's foreign ministry raised the alarm over a build-up of Belarusian and Russian troops near Gomel, close to Ukraine's border. Since then, there have been other warnings from Ukraine's foreign ministry about the threat Belarus poses, such as in August 2024 that any border violation would prompt a self-defense response from Ukraine in line with the U.N. Charter. Putin and Lukashenko's alliance has deepened during the war. Analysts say Belarus is becoming Russia's "militarized satellite." The Institute for the Study of War said in December 2024 that the Kremlin is "advancing toward a de facto annexation of Belarus" with a defense pact and integration of military and economic systems. For Moscow, Belarus strengthens its position on NATO's eastern flank, with implications for U.S. and European security. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: "Ask your intelligence what Russia is planning this summer in Belarus. If they are bold enough to prepare attacks from there, then we need more strength together." Belarusian opposition politician Franak Viačorka told Newsweek: [Zapad will include] "tests of nuclear facilities, tests of possible escalation. This is a reminder to all Western politicians who still believe they can appease Lukashenko or Putin—it's impossible—you cannot change these guys." The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry in August 2024: "Any violation of Ukraine's border by the regime in Minsk would provoke a self-defense response 'guaranteed by the U.N. Charter.'" The Institute for the Study of War in January 2025: [The Kremlin is] "advancing toward a de facto annexation of Belarus," presenting new threats to the West. NATO allies are increasing intelligence sharing ahead of Zapad 2025. Tarassis 25—a Joint Expeditionary Force Northern European exercise that will be the largest since the multinational force was established, will be held at the same time. Related Articles Satellite Photos Show Russia's Extremely Rare A-50 Radar Plane HitCrimea Bridge Hit by ExplosionAre the Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks Going Anywhere? | OpinionRussia Hits Sumy Civilians With New MLRS Strike: 'Absolutely Deliberate' 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
