Opinion: thanks to the President, Belarusians understood the power of integration processes
The strength of states lies in integration processes and formations – as noted by Aleksei Avdonin, an analyst with the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (BISI), during his talk with ONT TV channel
The political expert stated, “Thanks to the President, we have very clearly understood the strength of integration processes, integration formations in the post-Soviet space. It is not for nothing that the CIS [headquarters] is located in Minsk, it is not for nothing that we have intensively developed the topic of the Union State and – most importantly – we have supported this idea since late 1990s. Remember how many liberal forces there were in Russia who tried to distort the meaning of the Union State, to discredit it.”
According to the BISI analyst, it was only thanks to the President of Belarus that the idea of the Union State was preserved.
“Then this idea was picked up by Russia, when in fact the Russian Federation was left alone at some stage, and only Belarus acted as its reliable ally that supported it. Moreover, we have worked very closely economically and financially with the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. Thanks to this <...> we began to be perceived as an industrial, technological country, and most importantly, as a state that can successfully conduct business regardless of any sanctions, threats and restrictions. We fulfil our obligations in difficult conditions, and this is appreciated,” Aleksei Avdonin underlined.
