GRODNO. Nov 6 (Interfax-West) - Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko has denied media speculation about Belarus supplying arms to Iraq and a number of other states for which this is forbidden by UN sanctions.
Speaking at a meeting in Grodno devoted to the socio-economic development of society on Tuesday, the president said that the information about Belarus providing support to armed groups in the Middle East is "a lie." "Not a single cartridge has been supplied to those countries to which it is forbidden to supply arms," Lukashenko said.
"It is not without reason that the opposition mass media have recently started to lie. The goal of those who order these publications is to try to compromise the Belarussian administration in the eyes of the world community at a time when the countries of the world are focused on the fight against terrorism," Lukashenko said.
Lukashenko stressed that Belarus has effectively working defense enterprises. The arms systems produced in Belarus are successfully exported, but only to those countries to which it is not forbidden by international organizations. "I will restore Belarus's defense industry in the next 2-3 years," Lukashenko said. He believes that the development of defense industry enterprises, whose products can bring considerable revenues to the state budget, holds great promise.