The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he does not plan to run for a new term, TASS reported, quoted by BTA.
"No, I no longer plan, I no longer plan", Lukashenko said in an interview with the American magazine "Time", broadcast on the TV channel "First Information".
The Belarusian president, however, noted that he is younger than his American counterpart Donald Trump and is also in good physical shape.
"I will try to be stronger than Trump", Lukashenko said. He added that he did not want to run for president in the previous elections, but he had to stay in power to dispel rumors that he would flee.
"Honestly, for the second time in my life I was ready to finish the previous elections, knowing that the people would definitely support me and so on. But they said: "No, we are not ready". And the question was raised that I was a traitor, that I wanted to flee. I should have stayed."
Lukashenko added that he did not see his young son Nikolai in big politics and asked not to call him his successor.
"No, he is not a successor. I knew you would ask me about that," he said. "No, no. Ask him, you can offend him a lot with this," he added.
According to Lukashenko, his son Nikolai is "somewhat oppositional", although he supports his actions, "of course, of course in everything".
In addition, Lukashenko called on the Americans to "move" their President Donald Trump, so that he, in turn, can push his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky "at least towards an air truce".
"Neither I, nor you, nor [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, nor Trump, we are not eternal. Everything will change literally in the next two five-year terms, in the next 10 years. But let's solve the problem, proceeding from today's realities. It will work. Wake up Trump. And let him at least push Zelensky to an air truce," the Belarusian president said.
Lukashenko described his relations with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as very stable and almost family-like.
"Moreover, you know that my younger son is studying in China. We have already established, you know, family, one might say, relations with them," he emphasized in his interview. "We have a form of communication when my family - Kolya and I - go to his house and discuss some issues. He has also been to my house. We have long established warm friendly relations with them," the Belarusian president assured.