In Belarus, the number of supporters of an alliance with Russia is declining
The number of Belarusians who want integration with Russia is gradually decreasing, while the number of those who want cooperation with the EU is growing.
Political scientist Semyon Uralov wrote about this on his Facebook, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Unhealthy sociological trends: 54,5% of Belarusians are for an alliance with Russia, 25% are for an alliance with Europe. Another 20,5% of respondents do not know what to answer or find it difficult to answer this question. This is data as of August 2019. If we look at the issue in dynamics, it is clear that the number of supporters of integration with Russia is gradually decreasing - over the year they have decreased by almost 9 percentage points.
The number of supporters of the European path for Belarus fluctuates between 20% and 25%. But those who doubt it have become more numerous lately. So, although the number of supporters of the Union with Russia constitutes a majority, it is gradually falling. If this trend continues, then the course towards union integration will be subject to risks,” Uralov wrote.
In his opinion, the negative trends are explained by the growth of influence networks financed from the EU, USA and Britain, as well as “new media”, which in the Belarusian case are controlled and financed from Lithuania and Poland.
The expert also explains sociology by the fact that the post-Soviet generation, deprived of a union identity, is entering the arena. At the same time, Uralov assessed the work of the Belarusian public sector with the “30 minus” generation as “weak.”
“If the authorities in Minsk are not concerned about the attractiveness of the Union State and Eurasian integration, then in 7-10 years, given this trend, the number of supporters of the union with Moscow and Brussels will be comparable. Given such sociological trends, Moscow needs to act as pragmatically as possible. Russia needs a stable majority of supporters of the union, because value crises in society nullify efforts at deep economic integration,” Uralov concluded.
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