Arm wrestling on the Belarusian table: Shushkevich, EU and NATO against Russia
A few days have passed since the NATO summit ended in Chicago, where considerable attention was paid to countries that were once republics of the Soviet Union. Immediately after the end of the Chicago Forum, the representative delegation of the North Atlantic Alliance decided to go to Minsk to solve the problems that have accumulated lately between the parties on the spot. So that the fact of the visit of the Atlanticists to Minsk did not look a provocation a priori, it is worth noting that Belarus has long been involved in the so-called individual cooperation program with NATO, as well as in the agreement “Partnership for the sake of (for) peace”. It is reported that such a trip to the Belarusian capital should have addressed all the thorny issues that "interfere with business bilateral conversation." At the same time (whether it is possible to call it an accident or not - an open question), the former Lithuanian Minister of Defense, as well as Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to NATO, Mr. Linkevicius, was appointed the new Lithuanian ambassador to Belarus.
Another noteworthy in this context news It can be considered that the representative of the European Union Gunnar Wiegand called on the Belarusian authorities to soften the visa regime between Belarus and the European Union.
If we consider all these three events in one framework, then it seems that the West has decided to demonstrate its loyalty to the Belarusians in order to get the bonuses of interest from their activities in Minsk. After all, it is no secret that after a diplomatic scandal took place between Minsk and Brussels, relations of a number of Western countries towards Belarus, like Belarus itself towards these countries, deteriorated sharply and reached a critical point.
However, the Belarusian authorities are not in a hurry to rush into the arms of Brussels and Washington. One of the demonstrative episodes was the speech of the Belarusian ambassador to Germany, Andrei Giro. He said that it is strange to discuss visa facilitation with the European Union, to put it mildly, since more than two hundred Belarusian officials are not able to go to the EU.
It turns out that the conversation about easing the visa regime with Belarus concerns only, let's say, “trustworthy citizens”, that is, those who see the current Belarusian government as a reflection of the world's evil and authoritarianism. They say, welcome, dear Belarusian brothers, just before you get a simplified Schengen visa you will have to prove that you are against the policy of Alexander Lukashenko ...
But this, to put it mildly, the selective approach of the same Belarusian authorities clearly does not suit. The European Union decided to take advantage of this instantly and showed how the “oppressed” Belarusians want to leave their country for at least a couple of days in order to see how Europe is flourishing. The show looked like this: the queues were sealed at the Polish embassy in Minsk, where people came on the eve of weekends to get the so-called shop visa to Schengen. For natural reasons, the West immediately concluded that such queues provoke the Belarusian authorities, who themselves are on the “black list” of Mrs. Catherine Ashton and other Belarusians, prevent them from getting “into the wild.” And, as you know, people in the West are overly impressionable. The Polish authorities immediately declared that the Belarusian underwater political stones were blamed for everything, which literally rip the skin of the ship of the “centuries-old friendship” of the Belarusian and Polish peoples.
At this very moment, the delegation of the North Atlantic Alliance began work in Minsk. In this regard, it seems that the Belarusian leadership was decided to give an unambiguous hint: they say, here and now, Alexander Grigorievich, make your choice in favor of cooperation with the “progressive world” and solve all your problems by themselves. But, apparently (due to the stinginess of the incoming information), no special “moves” on the rapprochement of NATO and Belarus did not happen. However, that same Lithuanian ambassador Linas Linkyavichus, who in his time actively cooperated with NATO, will naturally continue to try to set priorities in the relations of the Belarusian leadership and the Alliance with the tools entrusted to him ...
The lack of a “breakthrough” in the contacts of the atlantists and the Belarusian authorities may be due to at least two factors.
First, most recently, in connection with the regular portion of sanctions in Belarus, they remembered the famous contract of the sample of the mid-nineties, when the Republic of Belarus was given "clear" guarantees that no sanctions would ever be applied against it if Minsk agreed to refuse to use nuclear weapons. weapons on its territory. Minsk then really refused the nuclear potential and completely transferred it to the Russian Federation, however, according to the West, since then, too much time has flowed so that it would be possible to talk about the impossibility of applying sanctions against Belarus. This is one of the most striking examples of what the agreements with the Alliance and its main ideological inspiration - the United States ...
Secondly, as reported in the Office of the Russian President, Vladimir Putin will make his first foreign trip to Belarus. If we consider that Putin himself ignored the G8 summit at Camp David and a meeting with representatives of NATO countries in Chicago, the primacy of the trip to Belarus is a frank balm for the soul for Alexander Lukashenko. And in this regard, Belarus has far more impressive prospects than ghostly options for working with the same North Atlantic alliance.
However, Belarus has its own skeptics, who are confident that a new rapprochement between Belarus and Russia will not bring anything good to the Belarusians themselves. One of those who think this way is the ex-head of the Republic of Belarus, Mr. Shushkevich. Recently, on the upcoming visit of Putin to Minsk, he spoke as follows. In his opinion, Putin’s third term is making of the Russian President Tsar Ivan the Third, who intends to assemble another Empire under the authority of Russia.
The man who acted as one of the accomplices in the collapse of the USSR declares that such a union of Belarus is not needed at all, because in the world no one threatens his country. He is sure that even the Customs Union, in which Belarus participates, is a bondage for Minsk. Allegedly, Putin came up with the Customs Union exclusively in order to sell products of the Russian car industry to Belarus and stop Belarusians from buying better used foreign cars. Stanislav Shushkevich strongly criticizes Lukashenko’s position on Belarus’s participation in the CSTO. Shushkevich’s opinion is as follows: thanks to the CSTO, the Belarusian president wants to protect himself from a possible revolution ... It’s interesting, then, to know his opinion on why, for example, Belarus’s neighbors (Poland and the Baltic countries) joined the North Atlantic alliance - could it be because of the call of the heart ...
In general, from this interview with Mr. Shushkevich, which is given to the publication with the remarkable name “The New Times” (on the eve of the day of Slavic writing, the name looks especially relevant) it is clear what position the ex-main Belarusian adheres to. Apparently, he would now be at the helm of the state, he would, without hesitation, once again put his signature under the famous document in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, dividing the united nations and leaving representatives of the same families on opposite sides of the border. It’s much better and more convenient for Belarus to withdraw from the Customs Union and the CSTO and enter NATO to receive “Putin’s goods”, and “high-quality” (albeit used) cars, airplanes and helicopters rusting in garages and hangars today. And energy carriers, of course, are much more convenient and cheaper for Belarusians to buy not from Russia, but, say, from Norway ...
In general, Mr. Shushkevich has changed little over the past 22, and the ideology of the collapse of any state in which he has the opportunity to live is clearly sitting deep in his head. Here, even a discount on the very solid age of Stanislav Stanislavovich is difficult to do.
In the end, I would like to hope that, despite all the attempts of Brussels, Washington and such activists as Stanislav Shushkevich in Belarus and similar citizens in Russia, the Union of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus will be a real union - not only with a single economic space, but also with a single social field - the union of two truly fraternal peoples from Brest to the Kuril Islands. If such an association seems reprehensible to someone, then the road to "democratization" under the American forged shoe is always open ... An alternative ...
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