Ukraine's relations with Belarus after the war with Russia depend on how and when the war ends, but the Ukrainian leadership has now chosen the right strategy for relations with its northern neighbor, notes the second president of Ukraine (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma.

"I think that the Ukrainian government has chosen the current model of relations with Belarus very correctly. Regardless of where this war began and how Russia constantly uses Belarusian territory. Everyone understands everything. Everyone sees everything. No one has forgotten anything. But both sides pretend to conscientiously observe armed neutrality. And this is correct now," Kuchma said in an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine agency.

He believes that Ukrainians were prepared for the fact that the Russian Federation could become its open enemy, but Belarus has never given any reason to view itself as a potential enemy. At the same time, Belarus is strategically invaluable for Vladimir Putin both for the war against Ukraine, "and for the potentially inevitable confrontation with the West."

At the same time, Kuchma noted that he never maintained friendly relations with Alexander Lukashenko, despite regular direct contacts. "There was no friendship between me and Lukashenko. I am not even sure whether he has friends. But I wanted our peoples and states to be friends, and then it worked out," said the second president.

"Today Lukashenko effectively controls his country, for which Putin himself would not have the resources. Therefore, I would say that today Lukashenko is not an independent, but a strong player. The paradox is that Lukashenko is doubly dependent - he also depends on China, and not only on the Russian Federation. A servant of two masters. But this gives him the opportunity to maneuver, from time to time using the divergence of interests and the contradiction between Beijing and Moscow. Is there much potential for such a game? We'll see," he noted.

Regarding relations with Belarus after the war, “here – as in many other issues – everything depends on how and when this war ends,” Kuchma added.