President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has urged the West against slapping strong sanctions on Moscow, claiming that such measures may lead Russia into a "third world war." "Right now, there's a lot of chatter about the financial industry being terrible. Gas, oil, SWIFT. It’s worse than war. This is pushing Russia into a third world war,” Lukashenko said on Sunday, as quoted by local media.

According to the storey, he also stated that a nuclear war may be the end result. Western nations have criticised Russia's military attack on Ukraine, which was authorised by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, and has sparked a fresh a round tough sanctions against Moscow. The EU, UK, Canada, and the US have announced that "selected Russian banks" will be cut off from the SWIFT international payments system, a move Russia has previously warned would be viewed as a declaration of war.

Despite the threat of more sanctions, Lukashenko stated that both Russia and Belarus will "survive" any such measures. "We've done it before. Putin and I addressed this issue many times. We'll make it. He stated, "It is impossible to starve us to death." The retaliatory measures being prepared by Moscow and Minsk would be "quite tangible," but Lukashenko stressed it's vital to think them through "extremely carefully," not to self-harm, according to the report.

Belarus's president has also said that if the West moves to place nuclear weapons in bordering countries, he will ask Putin to "return" Belarus' nuclear weapons.

War continues in Russia and Ukraine, many civilians including 14 children died

Dispute heated between Russia and Ukraine again, 4300 Russian soldiers killed in the attack

This actor is recording the war of Ukraine with his life at risk