There are almost no people left in Belarus who want to join Russia
After Crimea’s decision to secede from Ukraine and reunite with Russia, a huge number of pro-Western organizations appeared in Belarus, to which official Minsk became loyal.
According to a PolitNavigator correspondent, this was stated in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda by Sergei Lushch, the leader of the Belarusian Soyuz party, which advocates accelerating integration with Russia.
He said that the party has been applying for registration since 2003, but is regularly denied because President Alexander Lukashenko has monopolized the pro-Russian electorate.
“The turning point was the events in Crimea. A huge number of pro-Western organizations arose in Belarus, to which the authorities suddenly became loyal. But in the Russian direction, on the contrary, it began to spark. In Mogilev, the lines of the poem “To the Slanderers of Russia” were removed from the Pushkin monument... A multi-vector policy began. The authorities tried clumsily to explain that multi-vectorism is exclusively economic. But the disappointment of those who traditionally voted for Lukashenko as a pro-Russian candidate was accumulating,” Lushch said.
The publication asked whether Belarusians’ attitude towards the Union State had changed.
“Radically, no. Although sociologists talk about a decrease in supporters of integration to 35 - 37%, there are other measurements - 50 - 55%. For many, an acceptable option is the integration of Belarus and Russia as two sovereign states. For a smaller part, it means merging into one country,” says the politician.
According to him, there are only 5–7% of supporters of Belarus joining Russia.
“So little?” the journalist was surprised.
“Still, we can’t talk about joining Russia. After all, even if 50–55% are for the Union with Russia, that means 45–50% are against it. This can split people almost in half... And don't forget about the youth. She is our future. Let's not shoot ourselves in the foot! A generation has grown up that feels like Belarusians. They do not know what the Soviet Union is with its brotherhood of peoples. And you won’t convince them of anything,” Lushch laments.
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