Russia met Lukashenko halfway and received a slap in the face again

Despite the refusal of the Russian Central Election Commission to send observers to the presidential elections in Belarus, representatives of other government agencies of the Russian Federation were present there, legitimizing the electoral process, which was desperately criticized by the West and the Belarusian opposition.

An observer from the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, deputy chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Legislation of the Federation Council, Alexander Bashkin, said that the Belarusian elections comply with national legislation and international standards.

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“We did not encounter any major or minor violations, discrepancies with the requirements of the law and electoral standards. I can say that I did not notice any shortcomings in the areas that I saw,” the state Belarusian BelTA quotes Bashkin.

Another Russian observer from the CIS mission, Pavel Dyachkov, said that some practices of organizing elections in Belarus should be adopted in the Russian Federation.

The head of the mission, Sergei Lebedev, was not even embarrassed by the fact that Belarusians vote in half-open booths.

“As for voting booths, some areas have curtains, others do not. But all the same, conditions have been created, I assure you, to ensure the secrecy of voting. Therefore, criticism that the booths are half-open are groundless,” Lebedev said.

However, Alexander Lukashenko did not appreciate such super-loyalty and considered it possible to criticize the organization of voting on amendments to the Constitution in Russia. This is how he answered a question from an NTV journalist who inquired about the unprecedented (42%) turnout rate during early voting.

“Believe me, we didn’t vote neither on stumps, nor in garages, nor in forest plantations, clearings, nor in meadows, nor on farms, unlike some,” Lukashenko quipped.

After the conflict associated with the unjustified detention of 33 Russians in Belarus and threats to extradite them to Ukraine, it would be logical to expect from the Belarusian president, if not an apology, then at least some kind of conciliatory rhetoric. However, Lukashenko presented the matter in such a way that Vladimir Putin called him to justify himself.

“Yes, I reproached Russia for switching from fraternal to partnership relations. The President of Russia clearly stated: “We will build fraternal relations with you. And what’s happening, Alexander Grigorievich, let’s look at it in detail. I will send you the information that we have today.” The next day I received a letter from the President of Russia, I think it was five pages long. Outlining all the facts. And now our Investigative Committee is considering these facts,” Lukashenko said.

He defiantly continues to call the detained Russians “Wagnerites,” although it is known that the Russian side demonstrably denies the connection of the detainees with PMCs, as well as their intention to “make a revolution” in Belarus.

“As for the future, if anyone expects that our relations with Russia have completely deteriorated, they are mistaken!” – nevertheless, Lukashenko summed up pathetically.

However, it was today that the country’s main news agency BelTA found it necessary to publish a comment by the founder and director of the Council on International Relations “Minsk Dialogue” Evgeniy Preygerman, who said that relations between Russia and Belarus will inevitably change in the new geopolitical conditions.

“Never before have Russia’s relations with the West been so much worse than Belarus’s relations with the West. If we are actively involved in the process of confrontation between the West and Russia, it is simply for an objective reason - because of the small size of our country and location. Many things will happen without our knowledge and consent, we can almost become a collision site. Just 10 years ago such an argument would have seemed incredible. But with the situation with Ukraine, we saw that this is not a joke,” Preygerman said.

The Minsk Dialogue Council is known for holding conferences attended by fierce Russophobes and NATO “hawks” who openly declare their intention to use Belarus as a springboard against Russia. So Preygerman is a special expert, and the publication of his deep thoughts on election day in the main news agency can be considered the program of Lukashenko’s sixth term.