The United States could risk a "second Vietnam" by using military force against Venezuela in its fight against drug trafficking and illegal immigration from the South American nation, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko warns in a Newsmax interview.
However, he told Newsmax's Greta Van Susteren, in an interview airing Tuesday on "National Report" that he is "absolutely convinced that all issues, all the interests and desires of the United States of America might be resolved and can be resolved peacefully" with Venezuela.
"Everything can be achieved peacefully. War will give you nothing," said Lukashenko.
The Belarusian leader added that he expects to discuss tensions involving Venezuela with President Donald Trump in the "nearest future," and suggested that he's open to hosting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Belarus, if Maduro ever sought to leave office.
Van Susteren noted the United States does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's president.
Lukashenko, though, said that Maduro "has never been our enemy or adversary."
"If he has such a desire to come to Belarus, the door is open for him," he said.
Still, Lukashenko downplayed the idea that Maduro would flee or step aside, calling him "quite a strong person" and saying he resembles former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez. "Maduro is not a person to give up and to run away," he said.
Lukashenko described Maduro as "a normal guy with whom you can talk, with whom you can communicate and agree upon things."
However, he said that media speculation about a plan for Maduro to relocate to Belarus is overblown.
"We never spoke with Maduro on such a topic," he said.
"We discussed this topic with Americans more often," Lukashenko added. "We speak about Venezuela with Americans more often than with Maduro."
He also warned that rejecting election results in Venezuela could deepen internal divisions and risk violence, describing what he called a "50/50 situation" in Venezuela, as Maduro won "with only a slight advantage."
But if the goal is to rally Venezuelans around Maduro, "There can be a war," he warned.
"This is a situation that must be prevented if you didn't recognize the elections.”
Pressed about U.S. concerns over drugs, including fentanyl, Van Susteren said Washington links trafficking routes to Venezuela, often via other countries.
Lukashenko responded that transnational crime is real but cannot be solved through military action.
"Drugs, just like many other things, human trafficking, prostitution, weapons, this is the sad reality and we must fight it," he said.
But the president added, "missiles are not the means to fight drugs.”
Trump is right to prioritize combating illegal migration and narcotics, Lukashenko said, while insisting that the solution requires governments to "find ways to talk to each other."
Van Susteren raised allegations that Maduro has been implicated by U.S. authorities in drug trafficking.
Lukashenko said he had no evidence of that.
"You don't have such facts, and I don't have such facts as well," he said. "We don't have proof. I don't believe it."
Part two of Van Susteren's interview with Lukashenko is scheduled to air Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET on her Newsmax program "The Record."
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