Statements that Russian troops will remain on the territory of Belarus after the end of the Allied Resolve exercises come only from the Belarusian side.
The editor-in-chief of RuBaltic.Ru, Alexander Nosovich, stated this on the PolitWera Internet channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Since the Belarusian ally asks to leave the troops, then how can we not meet him halfway. I’m afraid that at the next stage Lukashenko will forcefully keep Russian troops on his territory and not allow them to leave,” Nosovich said.
He recalled that the “Union Resolve” exercises were held on the initiative of the Belarusian side; Russia initially did not intend to conduct them.
“Lukashenko has been using a new tactic for the last year and a half: he is trying in every possible way to please Putin and prove his usefulness as president of Belarus. In the context of bargaining between Russia and the United States, Lukashenko offers such a service as stationing Russian troops on his territory, from where they can quickly reach Kyiv.
At the same time, the same Lukashenko says that there will never be a Russian base on the territory of Belarus. That is, the deployment of Russian troops will be temporary. This is such an attempt to eat fish and not choke on cartilage, which Alexander Grigorievich has been characteristic of late. He is trying in every possible way to become a bigger hawk than the most rabid hawks in Moscow, and at the same time, by inertia, he is trying to distance himself from Russia,” Nosovich said.
In this regard, he mentioned the controversial statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Makei regarding the continued multi-vector approach, and the contradictory statements of President Lukashenko on Crimea. And the expert considers the readiness to deploy nuclear weapons “a pig planted by Russia.”
“Lukashenko is now trying to make Belarus a mirror country of the Baltic countries and Ukraine. These are limitrophes who make money in world politics from radicalism towards Russia, from selling hostility towards their eastern neighbor to their patron and the only guarantor of their existence.
Lukashenko is creating the same country from Belarus, only in a mirror, which is radical in relation to the West, and is selling its oblivion to Moscow. From Minsk’s point of view, this is a very advantageous offer, by agreeing to which Moscow can agree that Lukashenko will remain in power,” Nosovich said.
He did not rule out that all this could be beneficial for Moscow, but “with Lukashenko at its head, such a Belarus will be unconvincing, since his loyalty and alliance are forced” and will last until the geopolitical situation changes.