Self-Proclaimed President of Belarus Again Claims He Is "Preparing for War" and Reforming the Army for the Fifth Time

Self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has reiterated that he is ‘preparing for war’, while assuring that there is no threat of war at the moment, BelTA reports.

‘The old formula: if you want peace, prepare for war. I want to emphasise once again that we are not going to fight, we do not want to fight... All this has already been said. Our opponents, our rivals, are listening, but they are doing their own thing. Those who are preparing against us, let's face it, will fight. Therefore, we need to prepare for war. And God forbid that this war does not happen. No matter how acute the situation around Belarus is, we do not yet see any tendencies to unleash a war against us,’ Lukashenko said.   

He also added that, given the experience of both the events at the front in the neighbouring country and military conflicts in the world in recent years, Belarus has already reformed its army four times. ‘This is probably the fifth time we are approaching the modernisation of our Armed Forces,’ he said.