Opinion: Lukashenko, Putin play huge role in preserving sovereignty of Belarus, Russia
Aleksandr Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin play a huge role in preserving their countries, since it is only thanks to strong leaders that it is possible to avoid repeating the scenarios of the past – as stated by the Chairman of the Board of the Second National TV Channel, Marat Markov, during the Minsk-Moscow Union State live streaming
Answering a question from presenter Konstantin Pridybailo about attempts to shake up the internal situation in Russia, Mr. Markov explained how Belarus managed to maintain its independence in 2020, “It is always necessary to know the history, especially the one of our lands. In 1917, 250,000 Bolsheviks disorganised over 200 million people in Russia. An active minority took advantage of the authorities’ weakness: at that time, power was passed from one person to another – and that was a very important point. The same situation happened in the 1990s, when the overwhelming majority of Soviet citizens advocated the preservation of the Soviet Union, as proved by the results of polls and the referendum. However, in my personal opinion, there were traitors in power then, and they did nothing to save the country.”
According to Mr. Markov, attempts are now being made to push Belarus and Russia to a similar situation. “That is why the role of leaders in Belarus and Russia is huge at present,” he noted. “Thanks to our leaders, that scenario failed to be repeated – firstly, because we have shown it. In 2020, Aleksandr Lukashenko demonstrated that he is ready to lay down his life for his country. It is thanks to our leader that Belarus will not fall apart.”
Mr. Markov recalled that, in 2020, a programme of alternative contenders for power was born, and those people wanted to seize power – doing that, in fact, through a military rebellion. According to the expert, the programme assumed that conditions should be created in Belarus for internal conflict on interethnic, interfaith and economic grounds, ‘because one of its first points was the severance of all relations with Russia’.
“Taking into account the fact that many enterprises had their economies tied to Russia from 50 to 90 or even 100 percent (which was normal, since a party always works where it can gain profit), those steps could have instantly led to the bankruptcy of the country. They were going to implement that plan, mostly doing that through their toy leaders, who had been put in power. They would have been very fashionable PR actors, they wold have shown hearts, fists, and so on. However, actually, they would have drawn the country into chaos. It would have been bloody chaos. People do not want to think about it, but they should. [If all went as planned], Belarusians would have been fighting now. No one would have allowed NATO bases or units to deploy on the territory of Belarus and threaten Russia. Why don't they want to talk and think about it? We feel embarrassed to constantly voice this, but – when we start to feel shy – the active minority of no more than 3 percent of the population try to dictate their terms to us,” Mr. Markov said.
