Opinion: Belarus’ security inseparable from Russia’s
During his conversation with journalists after voting in the elections of deputies of the House of Representatives and local councils on February 25th, President Aleksandr Lukashenko touched upon the issue of the Union State security, and the Dean of the Journalism Department at the Belarusian State University, political expert Aleksei Belyaev, commented on the statements made
“Belarus and Russia have common enemies, and we see how NATO has become more active today. [French President Emmanuel] Macron says that it is time to legitimise the NATO troops on the territory of Ukraine, that they are actually ready to unleash not a proxy war, but a real direct war and send their soldiers to the combat zone. This is happening against the background of numerous exercises, endless threats, and the presentation of Russia and Belarus on the world stage as some kind of infernal evil that threatens everyone and everything," the expert noted in his talk with Alfa Radio. “Actually, we are not at all threatening anyone, we do not tell anyone what to do – unlike the countries of the collective West that interfere in all aspects.”
Mr. Belyaev recalled a statement of the US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, who called the parliamentary elections in Belarus fictitious, “These are the ones who tried to teach us how to hold elections! They were actually given a very good answer by the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz: ‘we spent the whole night together with the Belarusian Central Election Commission looking for Mr. Miller in the voter lists to determine which of the district commissions should respond to his complaint; we failed to find him’. The response also said that the Belarusian Foreign Ministry ‘tried to find in international law a definition of the US role as an evaluator of the electoral process in independent states; no right of the kind was found’. In short, there are no laws that would allow the United States to tell other sovereign states what to do. Meanwhile, we see how these persons absolutely shamelessly and brazenly declare that they have the right to lead everyone, comment on anyone, and threaten everyone. At the same time, they state that they are guided by safety, since someone is allegedly threatening them.”
The expert added that Belarus has a very clear strategy for its own security, “We have long made a choice and made our security inseparable from the security of the Russian Federation. Our union is being built despite all the difficulties and disputes that we have had. The very idea of this union – when two countries should stick together, stay back to back and defend themselves – has been developing for a long time, and Belarus has never made an attempt to abandon its allied relations with Russia despite some sugar, gas, dairy or oil related disputes. Time has checked everything, put everything in its place. The vector we chose has turned out to be really correct. These allied relations helped us a lot during difficult periods. Of course, Russia renders support in economic terms, in supplies of its tactical nuclear weapons to our territory, and on international platforms. In turn, Belarusians respond in the same way: they actively participate in the economic development of Russia, send food and specialists in various industries there, help explore the Far North and the Far South. Actually, the Arctic and Antarctica are being explored together by the two countries. We try to participate in all technological and industrial projects with Russia, and we see that the two countries complement each other, they are reliable friends and allies. Of course, Belarus and Russia have their own interests, but they are not just momentary ones: these are strategic and global interests for many decades to come.”
