WESTERN SANCTIONS PUSHING RUSSIA-BELARUS UNIFICATION, PUTIN SAYS

Sat 02 July 2022:

Belarus is being pushed to ingratiate itself with Russia more swiftly, according to President Vladimir Putin, who said that Belarus is under “unprecedented political and social pressure” from the West and a slew of sanctions as a result of the invasion of Ukraine.

The 69-year-old Russian leader on Friday told a forum that the pressure was “pushing us to speed up the unification process”.

That would be done to “minimise the damage from the illegal sanctions, to make it simpler to master the output of required products, to develop new competencies, to expand cooperation with friendly countries,” he said.

The neighbouring allies, which both share borders with Ukraine, have been moving to integrate on and off since signing a 1997 treaty meant to strengthen ties strained following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The Union Treaty preserves the independence of each state while granting the residents of the other state rights to residency and citizenship.

While Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s enthusiasm for Moscow has waxed and waned, in 2020, when the Russian president supported Minsk’s repression on anti-government rallies after dubious elections, Lukashenko was drawn closer to Putin.

Lukashenko’s critics have for years been silenced through beatings and arrests, rights groups have documented. Some were jailed, some fled, and some disappeared without a trace.

Under Lukashenko, Belarus remained a mini-USSR preserved in amber, and his rule rested on three cornerstones, observers say.

Lukashenko was the only legislator in Soviet Belarus to vote against his nation’s independence from Russia in 1991.

Three years later, he came to power promising to “reintegrate” the two nations – but only on his own terms.

He won a sixth term last year in a disputed election that roiled Minsk’s relationships with Western governments.

After that vote, Belarusian police and intelligence services assaulted, arrested and tortured thousands of protesters who rallied for weeks against his August 20, 2020 election victory, according to witnesses, opposition figures and rights groups.

Lukashenko also used pro-Western uprisings in neighbouring Ukraine in 2005 and 2014 as a pretext to milk the Kremlin for countless multibillion dollar loans, trade concessions and political support.

On February 24 of this year, Lukashenko gave Russia permission to use Belarus as a base for its invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), singled Belarus out in back-to-back summits, with NATO decrying Moscow’s “military integration with Belarus” in a new strategic framework that labelled Russia a “direct threat” to peace and stability in the region.

Last week, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia and Belarus must take urgent joint measures to improve their defence capabilities and their troops’ combat readiness.

While Lukashenko was in Saint Petersburg on Sunday, Putin declared that Russia would soon install missiles with nuclear warheads in Belarus.

The Belarusian president said Russia “must be ready” to respond to perceived nuclear threats from Western powers during a meeting with top Russian diplomat Sergey Lavrov on Thursday in Minsk.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent