Expert: there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Belarus’ participation
Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Olekseiy Danilov allowed the participation of the President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in the negotiations on a peaceful settlement. Political analyst Aleksandr Shpakovsky, commenting on this news during his talk with Alfa Radio, noted that no full-fledged peace negotiations are possible without the participation of Belarus.
“Our principled position is that there can be no negotiations on Ukraine without taking into account the position of Belarus and without our participation,” the expert underlined. “After all, firstly, the countries of the collective West – despite our peacekeeping efforts in this regard – declared Belarus a co-aggressor, and we suffer huge losses from the sanctions imposed as a result of this. Secondly, Ukraine is our neighbour with a common border of about 1,084km. We certainly need to resolve all issues related to security if the special military operation is terminated on some compromise terms. What will the Belarusian-Ukrainian relations look like in the future? How will the access of Belarusian goods to the logistics infrastructure of Ukraine be ensured? Ukraine must return the confiscated property of our country, including rolling stock. According to various estimates, Kiev confiscated Belarusian assets ranging from $500m to $1bn. Even the sea vessel Nadezhda, which belonged to us, was confiscated in the port of Odessa. We have a lot of questions.”
“Moreover, of course, the issue of extradition of militants who are currently participating in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine will be discussed. They violated our legislation regarding mercenarism, participation in hostilities on the territory of a foreign state. Moreover, these militants openly spread calls for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order in Belarus and are in undercover relations with foreign intelligence. They will have to bear responsibility for all this,” the expert added.
The only option for them to somewhat mitigate their fate is to take measures now to turn themselves in, to surrender and expose their accomplices. Only in this situation they can count on indulgence, said Aleksandr Shpakovsky.
