We have common tasks and we’ll solve them together

A decisive step in the integration of Russia and Belarus, Leopard tanks on the border with our country, the genocide of the Soviet people. These and other topics were tackled by the President with the Prosecutor General of Russia.

The Presidential Office welcomed the Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov. For the Belarusian Head of State, any meeting with a guest from the Russian Federation is an occasion not only to discuss issues of interaction between specialised departments, but also to outline the topical points of contact between the two countries. Their upcoming agenda will include the Supreme State Council of the Union State on November 4th. Aleksandr Lukashenko called this event very important, “Because over the past years, or maybe a decade and a half, we have been making a decisive step in our integration. As President Putin, my counterpart, said, this is how we will resolve many, if not all, issues in the economy. In his words, we are building the foundation of our future relations. I think that these relations will be productive. I hope that we will make a concrete and powerful step forward.”

Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov and Prosecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved

Driving a wedge will not work

Later, the Kremlin confirmed the participation in the Supreme State Council meeting of the Russian President Vladimir Putin via video link. This is in response to those ill-wishers who have recently spread rumours about Belarusian-Russian relations. Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that some media outlets have recently been trying to drive a wedge into this relationship which won’t work.
“We are experienced people, especially you, as you have seen a lot in life because of your profession. I’m sure you understand what is going on around us. We cannot escape this political baggage,” stated the Head of State.
The leaders of both countries agreed to sign twenty-eight Union State programmes during the upcoming meeting of the Supreme State Council. In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko, in a conversation with Igor Krasnov, anticipated that some people might say that Belarus and Russia are doing that because ‘they have nowhere else to go’, since there are sanctions against both countries and there is only one ally for Belarus... At the same time, he emphasised,

“The work was started long before those events here, and in Russia, before these sanctions. We have seen once again who our friends are, who our rivals are, who our real enemies are. We see all that. I think that new facts will be unveiled every day.”

Being able to stand up for oneself

Here’s another fact which deals with the ongoing militarisation along the western borders of our country. The Head of State identified the problem, “Russia has certainly paid attention to it too. Poland decided to fight illegal migration on the border with Belarus with the help of Leopard tanks. You’d probably be surprised by that. Are they going to use tanks against civilians? They are just looking for any excuse to move their troops closer to our borders, the borders of the Union State.”
Belarus will not look calmly on such antics of the collective West. Yes, our doctrine is purely defensive and we do not claim foreign territories, but we can stand up for ourselves. Aleksandr Lukashenko warned, 

“We see all this and, of course, our reaction will be very harsh. We’ll wait a while. We will warn them. Belarus has reason to move closer to the borders, let alone the Russian Federation. We will act harshly, disregarding any criticism from their side. We know what they want.”

Remembering history

Our country really knows the value of peace. It is not for nothing that the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus opened a criminal case this year and continues to carry out very serious work on recognising the genocide of the Belarusian people during the Great Patriotic War. Aleksandr Lukashenko did not fail to discuss this issue with Igor Krasnov. He applied for assistance, noting that the Russians always provide support, “I have a personal request for you: could you join this effort if you have an opportunity?

I think we will go further than Belarus in this. We have much to say and show about the events happening in the territory up to the Urals. Stalingrad, the area near Moscow, Leningrad. A real genocide. We must keep working on it in order to show all these vile and filthy people what role the Soviet people played during the Second World War, the Great Patriotic War, defending their sovereignty, security and human rights and freedoms as they call them today.”

The meeting also tackled current issues. Aleksandr Lukashenko immediately made it clear to the Prosecutor General of Russia: he did not come to a foreign country for himself but to his own home, and from this he should proceed. Moreover, co-operation between the two departments has always been fruitful, “There are plenty crooks both in Belarus and Russia. And as the Prosecutor General has told me, there have never been problems during the joint fight against them. I want to assure you: no problems will emerge from our side. My involvement is not even needed here. The Prosecutor General will resolve any issues related to the fight against crimes committed by Russians in the territory of Belarus and by Belarusians in the territory of Russia. We have no problems here due to our agreements, arrangements and your contacts. We are able to resolve all issues. I assure you once again… I would like to emphasise once again that we are kith and kin, we have common tasks and we will solve them together.”

Igor Krasnov and Andrei Shved laid wreaths at the Victory Monument in Minsk

Synchronising watches on time

The Russian guest, in turn, thanked the President for the opportunity to meet and admitted that it is a great honour for him to be in Minsk and ‘to discuss various issues and areas of co-operation between the supervisory departments of our states’. Moreover, he added,

“First of all, with no other prosecutor general’s offices in the world does the Russian Prosecutor’s Office co-operate as closely as with the prosecutors of Belarus. Every year we compare notes with the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus taking into account the international and regional agenda, and we outline priority areas of our work for the near future.”

The common tasks of the two departments are implemented thanks to the joint collegium of the prosecutor generals of Russia and Belarus, established within the framework of the Union State, at which various issues of protecting business, countering cybercrimes and drug trafficking are discussed.
The Prosecutor General of Russia outlined the current agenda as follows,

“Today, external attempts to destabilise the situation in Russia and Belarus are of particular mutual concern. This is done using, inter alia, extremist and terrorist groups. This situation is particularly alarming in connection with the current developments in Afghanistan.”

In this regard, Igor Krasnov believes that the parties need to adjust security issues throughout the CIS. Moreover, the attention of the prosecutor’s offices of both countries is also focused on the observance of the rights and freedoms of socially unprotected segments of the population, environmental protection, the fight against corruption, combating domestic violence and crimes against children.
...Together with his Belarusian counterpart Andrei Shved, Igor Krasnov discussed issues of bilateral interaction, including extradition, taking measures to reduce overdue foreign receivables, countering extremism, investigating the criminal case on the genocide of the Belarusian population during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war period, as well as ways of combating crimes using information and communication technologies, including the criminal use of cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets.

By Dmitry Umpirovich, Polina Konoga
Photos by BELTA