The idea of integration with the Russian Federation is losing popularity in Belarusian society
A generation has grown up in Belarus that looks more towards Brussels and Warsaw, rather than Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, writes Komsomolskaya Pravda, whose journalist visited Belarus.
According to him, if the question of the readiness of Belarusians to live with the Russian Federation as in the EU (with a single currency, customs, parliament, but without the abolition of their own states) were put to a referendum, then the votes would most likely be divided almost equally.
“But a generation has already grown up in Belarus that looks more at Warsaw and Vilnius than at Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is also due to the fact that recently more and more Belarusians are leaving to work in Europe than in Russia,” the publication notes.
It is also said that the idea of friendship with Moscow is popular in Belarus, but at a safe distance.
“Mainly – due to the desire for a different model of economy and democracy – “like in Europe.” The Russian one (this is due to many years of propaganda inside Belarus) is considered ineffective and corrupt. In other words, part of Belarus is ready to share sovereignty with the West rather than with Moscow. And the idea of complete integration of Belarus into Russia is unlikely to gain more than 10% of the vote. The overwhelming majority of Belarusians are not ready to give up their state,” the journalist notes.
He also answers the question of whether there are pro-Russian politicians, parties, or sentiments in Belarus.
“This is not specific to Belarus. In the CIS countries, pro-Russian politicians, surprisingly, are a rare phenomenon. And I think this is connected with the foreign policy position of Russia itself. Moscow usually does not risk playing a “double game” with the authorities of the former Soviet republics and does not support the pro-Russian opposition there. Moscow considers raising politicians loyal to Russia and funding local media to be troublesome, costly, and even useless (besides, any attempt to receive money from the Russian state, with its insane bureaucracy, is a sure path to Russophobia),” the author sums up.
As PolitNavigator reported, Russian experts admit that in Belarus the U.S. play 5 – 7 years in advance and relied on the new generation.
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