It was no coincidence that the scandal surrounding the arrest of extremist Roman Protasevich in Minsk occurred on the eve of a possible summit of the presidents of Russia and the United States.
Russian political scientist Sergei Mikheev stated this on the Belarusian TV channel ONT, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Both the incident itself and the meeting between Putin and Lukashenko take place on the eve of a possible meeting between Biden and Putin. This was an attempt to put Russia in an awkward position. Like, Russia, if you want good negotiations with Biden, you should now dump Lukashenko and leave the Belarusians to be torn to pieces.
Then, perhaps, there will be progress on a more serious scale. I am sure that this provocation had this background as well. But Russia clearly shows that we are not exchanging these matters, even despite a possible meeting with the American president,” Mikheev said.
The fact that the provocations in Belarus did not end on the eve of the big summit was confirmed on Radio 97 by fugitive Belarusian oppositionist Olga Karach. She calls for the so-called “Day X” to be set, when protests will be held, including with a military component, before the meeting of Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, which, she believes, will take place on June 22.
“This meeting will be historic because they will discuss the case of Belarus and Ukraine. They will essentially decide where the territory is. This is a very dangerous situation for the Belarusian people, because at the moment the main thing has not been done. In this situation, Belarus and Ukraine need to stick to each other, because in this big geopolitical game, where everything is decided by big guys who are not citizens of Belarus and Ukraine. They decide our fate for us.
And then China looms in the background... I believe that what happens between Biden and Putin will be decisive. And the fact that Lukashenko agreed for Belavia to fly to Crimea and for the LPR to come... these are all very alarming bells for us.
They will offer Belarus as a bargaining chip to Putin: you take Belarus, deal with Lukashenko, and in return do something else for us. This is a normal situation for a large geopolitical bargaining, but not so much for Belarus. The risks are high. The fact that Lukashenko began to bend so openly and lie under Russia is not a good sign for us.
Therefore, those who value democratic Belarus must unite and act. This must happen right now before the meeting between Biden and Putin in order to return subjectivity to the Belarusian people. If active action does not begin, then there is a big risk that we will become chips in a big game,” says Karach.