Belarusian dictator Oleksandr Lukashenko said that Minsk and Moscow had to "solve the Ukrainian issue" in 2014-2015, when Kyiv "had neither an army nor readiness."

 As BelTA reports, Lukashenko said this at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security and Special Services of the CIS member states.

 The self-proclaimed president of Belarus said that he "absolutely agrees" with Vladimir Putin that "we did not start" the war in Ukraine, but that it "began long before 2014".

 "We saw everything that happened here: the "brown" coup that happened, and what Ukraine was being led to. We saw who was in the vanguard," he said, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of not ensuring peaceful coexistence of people.

 According to Lukashenka, if the full-scale war had not started a little over a year ago, it would have started tomorrow, but under the worst conditions for Russia and Belarus.

 "Everything was leading up to this. The only mistake, perhaps, is that we did not solve this issue in 2014-2015, when there was neither the Ukrainian army nor readiness... Everyone wanted to settle peacefully somehow. And during this time they created combat-ready armed forces," he emphasized.

 It is not the first time that the self-proclaimed president of Belarus has resorted to openly anti-Ukrainian statements and actions. Back in July of last year, Lukashenko declared that he de facto already recognized the formation of "LPR" and "DNR", as well as the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and if necessary, he would issue a corresponding decree. Last fall, an agreement on cooperation between Minsk and Sevastopol was also signed.