Belarusian dictator Oleksandr Lukashenko said that his country is participating in Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, but is not sending its army to the neighboring country, TASS reports.

“As for our participation in a special military operation in Ukraine, we are participating there. We do not hide it. But we don’t kill anyone. We are not sending our army anywhere. We do not violate our obligations,” he said on Tuesday at a meeting on military security in Moscow.

He also noted that the purpose of his country’s participation in the war started by Vladimir Putin on February 24 is “first of all, to prevent the spread of this conflict on the territory of Belarus.”

As reported by the Belta agency, Lukashenko also stated that the second goal of Belarus’ participation in the conflict is to “prevent attacks on Belarus under the pretext of a special military operation by Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.”

“As I said, no one will shoot the Russians in the back on Belarusian territory. This is our lot,” he added, referring to a March statement when he warned that the Belarusian army must prevent a “rear attack” by Russian troops that Putin has sent to Ukraine.

Lukashenko complains that Ukraine protects the border with Belarus

The dictator from Minsk also reminded on Tuesday that Ukraine is worried about the possibility of Belarus joining the battle, but it was Kyiv that sent a group of up to 15,000 troops to the border of the republic.

“[Ucraina] in a word, he not only barricaded himself, but also built a wall for himself. It constantly conducts optical, radio-electronic, radio-technical reconnaissance of our territory, troops, objects,” he said, accusing that Ukrainian drones “often” violate the state border of Belarus.

“There are constant challenges at the border,” he added.

Although he has allowed Russian forces to use Belarusian air bases and attack Ukraine from its territory since the first day of the war, this appears to be the first time that Oleksandr Lukashenko has openly acknowledged his involvement in the conflict.

Western powers have imposed additional sanctions against his regime and the Belarusian economy since the start of the war in late February. Belarus defaulted in mid-July, a few weeks after Russia.

The Center for European Policy Analysis noted in a wide-ranging analysis published in late August that the main reasons why Lukashenko resisted Vladimir Putin’s pressure to get involved militarily in the war were the size of the Belarusian army and the fact that it was needed to protect him from a domestic dictator.

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