Biden says alternative to sanctions is WW3, Lukashenko slams west for pushing Russia
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says western sanctions leading Russia to another world war.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday said an alternative to sanctions that Washington has slapped on Russia would be the Third World War.
"You have two options. Start a Third World War, go to war with Russia, physically. Or two, make sure that the country that acts so contrary to international law ends up paying a price for having done it," Biden said in an interview with blogger Brian Tyler Cohen. The video was posted on his YouTube page on Saturday (26 February).
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that the policy of sanctions is aimed at eliminating Russia as a competitor and is leading to another world war.
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Russia is being pushed towards a third world war. We should be very reserved and steer clear of it. Because nuclear war is the end of everything," Lukashenko said Sunday, reports TASS.
He noted that the rigid sanctions imposed by the western countries are worse than war.
"In a situation like this, we should be aware that there are such sanctions. A great deal is being said about the banking sector. Gas, oil, SWIFT. It's worse than war."
"This is the problem they are addressing. They have gone as far as war," the Belarusian leader said.
The US President said that no sanctions are immediate. "But I think these sanctions, I know these sanctions are the broadest sanctions in history, and economic sanctions and political sanctions," Biden said.
"Russia will pay a serious price for this short term and long term, particularly long term," the US leader stressed.
Countersanctions for the West
Lukashenko warned that Minsk and Moscow would take very panful sanctions against the West.
"Our sanctions, to be taken by Russia and Belarus, will be very panful… These mechanisms have already started working. If need be, we will be building up these measures, but not to our own detriment," the Belarusian leader said.
He warned that another iron curtain was about to fall.
On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Its objective is demilitarization and denazification of the country.
When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.
A number of countries, including the US, have declared tough sanctions against Russia. The US Department of Treasury has announced sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
