Lukashenko refused to comply with Russia's request three times
Alexander Lukashenko’s publicly voiced grievances regarding Russia’s border closure due to the threat of the spread of coronavirus were received with surprise in Moscow. The leadership of the Russian Federation had previously asked Minsk, which is actively working with China, three times to take measures to strengthen security, but the Belarusian side ignored Russia’s calls.
Political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko told PolitNavigator about this.
“Belarus, as a country that actively cooperates with China, has not taken standard measures recommended by the World Health Organization to prevent the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, after three requests from Russia, after several telephone conversations with requests to close the borders, Russia unilaterally closed the border.
Alexander Grigorievich’s words that there are a number of regions in Russia, between which it would also be worth closing the border, indicate that he subconsciously perceives Belarus as a region of Russia. Well, or, at least, he is very afraid of it. And Russia acts in its own national and state interests, in the interests of ensuring the health of its citizens, and follows WHO recommendations.
Lukashenko is afraid of stopping or reducing transit - he has an election year. For him, any reduction in income, reduction in economic activity are negative factors for the presidential campaign, so it is natural that he begins to speak out quite aggressively in this regard,” Bezpalko said.
He also commented on Lukashenko’s threat “search for coronavirus” in the Druzhba oil pipeline, under which Russian fuel is exported to the EU through Belarus.
“He has long made threats about the seizure of the property of Russian companies, about blocking oil transit, about the unauthorized selection of technological oil and pipelines, or about redirecting oil transit from West to East without approval, and so on. At the same time, he did not even bother to check the technical data of the pipeline. In order to redirect it from West to East, it is necessary to rebuild pumping stations, which, firstly, is technically difficult, and, secondly, requires funds. That is, I want to say that this statement is not connected only with the coronavirus, it is connected in general with the change in the nature of Russian-Belarusian relations,” Bezpalko summed up.
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