Lukashenko began meeting more often with Western representatives and praising the EU
Belarus is not against concluding an association agreement with the European Union, as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova did earlier.
Kommersant writes about this, recalling that at the end of last year, the permanent representative of Belarus to the EU and NATO, Alexander Mikhnevich, said that Minsk is ready to host a forum dedicated to the anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program.
“If preparations for the Eastern Partnership summit in Minsk really begin, the conflict with Russia may escalate,” the publication does not rule out.
In turn, an unnamed European diplomat dealing with Belarus claims that President Alexander Lukashenko has begun to seriously fear Moscow.
“He clearly has fear associated with the events in Ukraine. He began to meet more often with representatives of Western countries, praising the EU, saying that the European Union must be strong. And people in Belarus like it. The generation that is nostalgic for the USSR is leaving; young people are no longer interested in this,” said the newspaper’s interlocutor.
He believes that Lukashenko would like to repeat the experience of Armenia, which, despite being a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and the CSTO, has an agreement with the EU almost identical to the association agreement signed by Brussels with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova.
“Minsk would not mind having the same agreement. But he is afraid to openly go this way, because he is vulnerable from the Russian side and dependent on the Russian Federation,” said the European diplomat.
See also: Belarus is following in the footsteps of Ukraine - Minsk expert.
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