Every Belarusian citizen, except children, will be given a gun if the country is attacked by an enemy, President Aleksandr Lukashenko said. He also lamented the volume of illegal arms coming to the country from Ukraine.

“I wasn’t joking when I said that if we’ll have enough firearms – assault rifles, pistols, machine guns and ammo and if, God forbid, there’s war we’ll hand it to every family,” Lukashenko said as cited by STV broadcaster adding that this would amount to seven million people receiving arms.

The president said that the country only needs defensive weapons, which can deliver “untenable” damage to the enemy. “Like high-precision missiles with a range of between 300 and 350 kilometers. And we have those,” he said.

Lukashenko didn’t specify, who is planning an attack on Belarus, but said that neighboring Ukraine was a source of concern. “We’re alarmed by the influx of illegal arms through the Ukrainian border. We seize a lot of arms,” he said.

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The president said that Belarus “decided to tighten the border with Ukraine” where the government is waging a deadly military campaign in break-away Donetsk and Luhansk Regions in the south east of the country since 2014.

“We see how much trouble for Belarus is coming from there … We must close the border, but not for decent people, but for criminals, who bring guns,” Lukashenko said.

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