MINSK, 22 June (BelTA) – Belarus has proved a success as a sovereign state, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said as he met with young social scientists in the Modern Belarusian Statehood Museum on 22 June, BelTA has learnt. “We made most of the chance we got in the early 1990s. Over just two decades – which is a tiny period in historical terms – despite the unbelievable external pressure, we have built in fact a new European country,” the head of state said. “Our young state has showed that even a small country can make others respect it and pursue an independent foreign policy,” the President said. “You see the attitude of the West towards us; even the East does not understand us sometimes,” Alexander Lukashenko said. In his words, “It is not about the wrong regime, the wrong president or something else”. “I do not want to make comparisons, but they successfully collaborate with some regimes, because these regimes have oil, money and so on. A small country in the center of Europe decided to become independent? From who? From Russia, Poland or Lithuania which incorporated it before?” the President added. Alexander Lukashenko has underlined that Belarus has proved a success as a sovereign state. “They will have to keep this in mind. Sooner or later they will have to accept this,” said the head of state. "Our goal is to create the state we and our children will be proud of,” stressed the President. Alexander Lukashenko recalled that Belarus’ path to independence was long and difficult. “For centuries our lands passed from one state to another, and Belarusians were subjected to political, economic, and cultural oppression. This all is part of our history,” said the President. The head of state believes that extraordinary resilience and willpower of Belarusians deserve respect. For centuries they quested for statehood and finally achieved the goal. “The older generation remembers what Belarus was in the heady 1990s: the economy was in crumbles, the authorities were powerless, and the unemployment and poverty were rampant. The country was actually balancing on the brink of the abyss. Probably, the Lord has saved us. We started to look for a way out, including politically,” recalled the head of state. “I remember those days when we were writing the Constitution and mulling over the post of the president. Many, especially the elite, wanted the president with limited powers. Everyone wanted a weak president. The president was elected, and I had to modernize the Constitution to take the country out of the dire straits we were in then,” Alexander Lukashenko said. In his words, a political system, an executive branch, and a parliament were set up in the country. “I am not going to talk about specifics of the development of our country. Some call it a phenomenon. Let us not brag. Let us just say that we are following our own path. It is for the next generations to judge whether it was the right decision to do. But since there are improvements, this means this is one of the paths we were meant to have taken,” the President added.

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