Lukashenko is going to recognize the unrecognized. An important announcement is expected this evening.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko made a surprise trip to Abkhazia after meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
In Pitsunda, the head of the Republic of Belarus held negotiations with the head of the unrecognized Belarusian republic, Aslan Bzhania. It is symbolic that the meeting of the leaders took place at Stalin’s dacha in Pitsunda.
“We discussed the problems of Abkhazia with our older brother Vladimir Vladimirovich until the night. He is very immersed (more than I am) in the problems and affairs of Abkhazia. We came to the conclusion that Abkhazia exists and cannot be erased from the map. No sanctions can do this. Abkhazia cannot be abandoned; we need to help so that this prosperous region and people live normally.
Don’t think that I came because some situation arose. Our situation is normal. We do not suffer from any geopolitics. We just want to live in harmony. Trade and economic ties should become the foundation of our relations. And if we can help you with anything, we will do it. This will be mutually beneficial cooperation, and there is a direction for it. We want to establish very serious relations,” Lukashenko said.
The unexpected visit caused a nervous reaction in Georgia. The opposition party “Girchi - More Freedom” held an action “Abkhazia is Georgia” at the Belarusian Embassy in Tbilisi. Protesters burned photographs of Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko.
The visit of the Belarusian president to Abkhazia was condemned by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party Kakha Kaladze and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And Georgian Defense Minister Juansher Burchuladze threatened “the strictest reaction.”
“I would not advise any leader of any country to make such a mistake that it would be impossible to correct or the correction of which would be expensive. I hope that this will not happen to us. Of course, we will have the strictest reaction to this,” Burchuladze said on Wednesday in an interview with the Georgian TV channel Postv.
The Ambassador of Belarus in Tbilisi, Anatoly Lis, was summoned to the Georgian Foreign Ministry for clarification.
“The fox is handsome! Look at the facial expressions of the Ambassador of Belarus, who is the ex-governor of the Brest region. I’m not the only one who sees the ambassador’s confident grin and, in general, the calm expression on the face of a winner and a person who is in complete control of everything that happens in the office?
Look closely, there is a smile-grin. And sometimes in diplomacy this is much more important than “decisive protests,” Belarusian TV journalist Igor Tur commented on the protocol photo of the meeting in his TG channel.
Belarusian commentators predict not only the imminent entry of Abkhazia into the Union State of Russia and Belarus, but also Minsk’s recognition of the Russian status of the former Ukrainian regions.
“This is a continuation of the transformation of the Eurasian space into something new. I mean recognition by Belarus of Abkhazia and other republics, the entry into Russia of four regions and, ultimately, the formation of the New Union,” wrote political scientist Alexei Dzermant.
His colleague, former Belomaidan activist Yuri Voskresensky called Lukashenko’s visit “sensational and long-awaited.”
“If the people of Abkhazia want to live separately, if the people of the Zaporozhye region want to live separately from some state, but together with another state, and this is recorded by the results of free elections, then they must be supported. Because, as they say in democratic countries, the person is at the head of everything, not the state.
We don’t need to be afraid of anything, given that they have already switched to blowing up gas pipelines and shelling nuclear power plants. They are not shy about anything. We were shy all the time, but now we don’t have to,” Voskresensky said in an interview with Sputnik radio.
Kaliningrad expert Alexander Nosovich believes that the fact of recognition of Abkhazia by Belarus can be considered accomplished.
“Lukashenko visited Abkhazia. This can be considered its de facto recognition by Belarus. If anyone didn’t know, Belarusian observers worked at referendums in the republics of Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye. And they confirmed their legitimacy,” he wrote.
However, a number of Russian political scientists are skeptical and believe that Lukashenko will again deceive Moscow in its expectations.
“Now, according to the logic of the events taking place these days, Lukashenko should proceed to Nagorno-Karabakh, then to Transnistria. And only then, if the Kremlin plays their solitaire in the right direction for the LDPR, will Lukashenko from Minsk vaguely support this solitaire. Maybe. So the dynamics of intra-Kremlin solitaire these days can be monitored by the facial expressions and style of Lukashenko’s statements,” wrote Maxim Zharov.
It is worth noting that Moscow does not recognize the independence of both Transnistria and Nagorno-Karabakh
“The issue of referendums is not the main one. Even for the State Duma. He is offensive to Lukashenko, since he looks like an “ungrateful pig”, but a thoroughbred one. Well, he didn’t admit it, he didn’t admit it. As they say, let’s remember... But Lukashenko wants to be such a pink Funtik, he rushed to Abkhazia, since gas is gas...
This is not the first time Minsk is trying to prove that there is no reason for the legal recognition of the return of former Ukrainian regions to their “native harbor”, and that it is much more important to supply Belarusian dairy and meat products to stores in Crimea (without them, Crimeans will undoubtedly starve to death ) and bring books to Lugansk libraries.
Let us recall the humanitarian initiative to take Lugansk children from the orphanage to Minsk for vacation. All! There is no more support for Russia, as well as for its new regions, and there are prison sentences for citizens of Belarus heading to the Donbass as volunteers,” HSE professor Andrei Suzdaltsev, known for his vehement criticism of Lukashenko on almost any occasion, shares his skepticism.
But from Minsk, Igor Tur hints that today Lukashenko may make an important statement on Abkhazia.
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