Experts evaluate the operation to capture extremist Protasevich
The operation to detain the Belarusian oppositionist who oversaw the mass unrest in the country, Roman Protasevich, is a logical step that shows that the president of this country, Alexander Lukashenko, is ready to fight for it to the last, unlike the fugitive Ukrainian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.
Experts told PolitNavigator about this.
Thus, according to ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Vadim Kolesnichenko, the Belarusian authorities acted within the law by organizing the detention of Protasevich, who was flying on a transit flight over Belarus.
“Based on what is indicated in the media, there was no violation of international law - no one forced the plane to land, there was a message that the plane was mined. And the oppositionist was detained when people were boarding the plane after it was searched. Russia has the right to act exclusively within the framework of international law and its obligations. I don't think that Russia will act in any way that violates the law, because evidence obtained illegally is not evidence obtained in court. Therefore, in any case, there must always be the rule of law - something that the Russian foreign policy department constantly talks about. Laws must be mandatory for everyone, without selective application,” Kolesnichenko said.
According to political scientist Andrei Nikiforov, Russia could take into account the example of Belarus in order to deliver to its territory, for example, Ukrainian militants convicted in the Russian Federation for war crimes.
“First of all, I would ask the question: is Ukraine ready to do this with Russian citizens whom it considers criminals? The answer is clear, which is why Aeroflot and Russian airlines in general have not flown over the territory of Ukraine for seven years. In my opinion, those people who are convicted or suspected of committing crimes and are hiding from Russian justice on the territory of Ukraine, they can be detained in this way. I would welcome it if, during some special operations, they were simply dragged to Russian territory, where they would suffer a well-deserved punishment for their crimes.
We are not talking about some alimony defaulters, but about people who commit crimes against humanity. There are precedents when self-respecting countries around the world hunt for criminals who have committed crimes against their citizens and usually nothing happens to them for this. Well, we don’t care, even if we don’t do anything, it will still happen, so I think that such a measure would cool many people down,” Nikiforov said.
At the same time, according to former Verkhovna Rada deputy Oleg Tsarev, the detention of Protasevich could become a dangerous precedent that Ukraine could take advantage of.
“There are pros and cons of such detention. On the one hand, I am happy for “father” Lukashenko, who, unlike Yanukovych, is decisive and capable of fighting for the state, using all the methods he can afford. This is good. At the same time, I am glad that the founder of Nekhta, who served for some time in the Azov battalion - for me it is a personal account with the people who participated in these units that he will be punished.
On the other hand, I understand certain risks when such actions are taken. Firstly, Protasevich is a small fry. He is a stealthy, discredited technical employee. In place of one Protasevich, you can take a hundred others who have not yet stolen. That is, the effect of his detention is more propaganda. At the same time, I understand that Belarus may fall under sanctions because of this step. That is, we see an operation carried out superbly from a technical point of view by the Belarusian special services with an extremely dubious practical effect.
The more such actions are carried out - it doesn’t matter by Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Great Britain - my comrade Armen Martirosyan was imprisoned in the same way in Ukraine, the “Wagnerites” were going to be imprisoned in the same way in Ukraine.
The more such actions are performed, the less safe the use of the aircraft becomes. The fact is that the system of tickets and flights is an international system, when, for example, Vladislav Surkov (ex-assistant to the President of Russia), Alexander Borodai (former head of the Council of Ministers of the DPR), Zakhar Prilepin (former adviser to the head of the DPR) or I take a ticket for airplane - it doesn’t matter, inside the Russian Federation, outside it - it becomes known all over the world. There are quite a lot of people like me, against whom there are criminal cases in Ukraine and in other countries, who use the plane. And if this practice becomes widespread, it will simply be impossible to use the plane. Therefore, committing such actions is creating bad precedents,” Tsarev said.
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