In Belarus, they were skeptical about the assurances of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that he did not propose to his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko to sign a “non-aggression pact.”
“We are not going to attack Belarus and have never intended to. There are no such intentions. And this is the main signal from the entire Ukrainian people. It is very important for us that Belarus does not lose its independence,” Zelensky said.
However, in Minsk they prefer to believe Lukashenko’s words that proposals were received from Kyiv.
“Keep quiet, drug commander. You didn’t come to us only because you know that at that very second “Polonaise” will fly into your window, you won’t even have time to take a last drag. Instead of making statements, it’s better to disarm the tiktoker bandits and hand them over to us. The tribunal will take it into account,” TV journalist Grigory Azarenok sharply addressed the Ukrainian president on his TG channel.
Belarusian media expert Andrei Sych believes that Zelensky should, before making any proposals to Lukashenko, disarm and extradite Belarusian militants from the so-called “Kalinovsky regiment,” which is part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“The non-aggression pact, which has been talked about in Ukraine, is an important step towards normalizing relations. But for starters, official Kyiv should put on a cross, or rather, actually reinforce its intentions. If Belarus implements its good neighbor policy, it will open the border to everyone. The corresponding step for Ukraine should be to stop financing terrorist units and extradite militants who openly state that their task is to carry out a violent coup d’etat in Belarus. Only after these actions can the signing of the Non-Aggression Pact be discussed,” Sych wrote.
Belarusian political scientist Pyotr Petrovsky claims that no one in Minsk takes Zelensky’s proposals seriously.
“Because we have intelligence that the Ukrainian special services are preparing various kinds of sabotage extremist-terrorist groups from among the fugitives. The front is also filled with them. They gain combat experience. And along the border of Belarus today there are about 20 thousand forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, plus 5 thousand Polish troops on the Polish side. Everyone understands perfectly well that the attempt to throw in the idea of a non-aggression pact between Minsk and Kyiv is aimed at lulling Minsk’s vigilance, because Kyiv really needs destabilization within Belarus. And for this we need to tighten up the work of the security forces a little. The second point is to release part of the forces from the northern direction and transfer them to Donbass. Now the Kiev regime is carrying out the most terrible unannounced mobilization,” Petrovsky said in an interview with the Spets TV channel.
He believes that Zelensky wants to quarrel Minsk and Moscow, so that he can then attack Belarus without hindrance.
“To drive a wedge between Minsk and Moscow, sow mistrust, create sidelong glances, and liquidate this union. Because Kyiv understands perfectly well that Belarus today is a special industrial region of the Union State, providing the Northern Military District with critical technologies. We even provide technology that Russia itself can produce, like harnesses. It is clear that Belarusian enterprises will drive a wedge into the supply of the Northern Military District. These are their tasks. Take us out of the game, and then launch a preemptive strike on us with your extremist-terrorist saboteurs to destabilize the situation within the country. And under this noise, introduce either the Vsushniks, or NATO, or all of them together,” Petrovsky said.