Belteleradiocompany Chairman on situation on the border with Ukraine: we are now one step farther from possible armed conflict
The peaceful sky over Belarusians’ heads is the result of the painstaking work of the Head of State and the military: on July 13th, President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko announced the elimination of tension on the border with Ukraine after a significant escalation of the situation, to which the Belarusian side had to react. In his talk with Alfa Radio, Ivan Eismont, the Chairman of the Belarusian State TV and Radio Company, commented on the issue.
The deputy of Minsk’s City Council of Deputies, Ivan Eismont, noted that certain forces dream of dragging Belarus into the conflict, and decisions on the escalation of the situation are made in order for the republic to respond, “Our President once explained why this is happening. The point is that they want to stretch the front line, weaken the positions of Russia (and Belarus at the same time). Speaking of the leadership of NATO, the European Union and the United States, they do not state this openly, but we can pay attention to those of our citizens who left the country and the Ukrainian ruling elite who are commenting on the situation. They all dream of this to happen, since they believe the hands of their Western partners will be untied then, they will receive help, NATO troops will enter the territory of Ukraine, and a big conflict will start. In their opinion, this is the only chance to get hope of victory and the opportunity to stay in power. Everyone agrees that the Ukrainian leadership has virtually no other chance. That concentration of troops on the border of Belarus and Ukraine was making nervous everyone. As far as we know, the Western military and serious weapons were redeployed there, although the West claimed that it was not a participant in the conflict. In reality, they [Westerners] have been fighting for a long time with the hands of proxy troops, former – or maybe even current – military. It is not a great problem for them to send one or ten thousand soldiers to the territory of Ukraine just in case and make them not NATO military for some time.”
Mr. Eismont added that Ukrainians are close people for Belarusians, and the latter do want a war with them, “You have heard the famous phrase of our President: mind your own business, be calm, and we will do everything. When a large number of troops were concentrated on the border of our country, certain steps were taken by Belarus, and the Ukrainian side, apparently, reacted adequately to them: the troops were withdrawn. Belarus immediately made a similar decision, and our troops left for their places of deployment. The situation was deescalated as a result, and that was the best news regarding Belarusian-Ukrainian relations. The President has honoured the promise. It seems serious work was carried out by the Ukrainian side as well, perhaps jointly with Belarus. The situation has been resolved, no one needs a war. I am glad that we have moved one step farther from a possible armed conflict. I have no doubt that there are enough forces in the West who dream that the opposite would happen.”
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a statement recently that the second peace summit – which Ukraine plans to host – is likely to be held with the participation of Russia. Isn’t it too late? That's another question. We do not know what Russia's reaction will be. Clearly, each of them will try to reach peace agreements on their own terms, and this is the trickiest issue,” Mr. Eismont said. “A third party is needed to virtually hit the table and declare that the issue is settled. As for Ukraine, we know that the United States can do this, and Ukraine is afraid of this most of all. I mean the possible election of Trump when saying this,” Mr. Eismont said.
The programme host, Vadim Shepet, added then that – in order to eliminate tension – Aleksandr Lukashenko personally went to the border, although it was possible to simply give an order. Actually, the President always approaches the issues in detail.
“The President of Belarus is the Commander-in-Chief, he may wear a military uniform and personally participate in exercises,” the deputy noted. “We know the attitude in our country to how the President can resolve conflict situations. Therefore, if something happens, everyone’s last hope is to hear the Belarusian leader, to know what measures he is planning to take. In that situation, he personally went there and settled everything, and that gave much more significance to the solution of the situation. The personal presence of the President, in my opinion, is also a step to calm the people of Belarus. In Ukraine, residents of the border area also do not want to fight with us. Other people are engaged into this issue there. Therefore, I do not see anything surprising in the actions of the President. When it was necessary, he took an assault rifle, and later personally went to the border and resolved the situation – doing that successfully in both cases. We hope that this is the beginning of a long journey so that Ukraine will one day return to its former relations with Belarus.”
