The only mistake of Russia and Belarus was that we did not solve this issue in 2014 or 2015, when Ukraine did not have an army and was not ready," said the Belarusian president. Alexander Lukashenko, according to "Politico".

In the statement, he mentions 2014 because then Russia invaded Crimea and annexed it, and their forces occupied the territory of eastern Ukraine.

As "Politico" writes, Lukashenko's comments, made during a meeting with the heads of the security agencies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which is made up of former Soviet countries, show that he has fully accepted his transformation into a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The analysis also states that their "I love you-hate you" relationship has lasted for almost three decades, and after the Kremlin helped him in the massive street protests that took place after the presidential elections in 2020, the Belarusian president decided to put all his cards on Putin and of helping Moscow launch its invasion of Ukraine last February.

Belarus is not directly involved in the war in Ukraine, but allowed Russia to launch an attack from its territory in February.

- We saw this (Russian invasion) coming. If the war had not started last year, it would have started tomorrow, but with worse conditions for Russia and Belarus, Lukashenko said in his speech in Minsk.

He adds that the only mistake they made was not solving this issue in 2014 or 2015, when Ukraine did not have its own army.

- We wanted to solve it peacefully. However, they used this time to train their armed forces, which are now ready for combat, Lukashenko said.