The new Constitution of Belarus abandoned the military alliance with Russia
Amendments to the Constitution of Belarus, promised by Alexander Lukashenko, propose declaring the former Soviet republic a neutral state. It is indicated that the country can be a member of military blocs.
Political scientist Yuri Voskresensky, who was arrested during the days of Belomaidan, but then close to power, explained this by the desire not to anger Western neighbors by an alliance with Russia. He stated this in an interview with the PolitWera YouTube channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Why did we move away from enshrining a military alliance with the Russian Federation in the Constitution, because it would entail a change in the military-political doctrines of all our neighboring countries. Economic relations may also deteriorate. Therefore, we decided not to pull the tiger’s whiskers, to abandon the desire for a neutral status, but, realizing that this is now nonsense, we enshrine in the Constitution the need for collective defense. All this can be done in regular contracts or concepts. It doesn’t necessarily include this in the Constitution, especially now, when they are trying to make us an outcast for the whole world,” Voskresensky said.
His explanations were considered unconvincing by the chairman of the Civil Harmony in Belarus movement, Artem Agafonov.
“The Russian-Belarusian union is an objective political fact, and everyone who could have already drawn the appropriate conclusions from this, the corresponding amendments to their military doctrines. The fact that this fact is recorded at the level of the Constitution is unlikely to change anything in relations with neighbors,” Agafonov said.
Belarusian public figure Alexander Skurchaev believes that in this way the authorities are “throwing a bone” to the nationalists.
“This is a bone in favor of the nationalists in order to tell them something like the following thesis: “these amendments are not so bad. You want Belarus to be as separated from Moscow as possible - we state right in the constitution that we strive for non-bloc status.” The task here is to stuff in some goodies so that it meets with less resistance from society,” Skurchaev said.
Russian political scientist Vyacheslav Sutyrin, on the contrary, believes that such an amendment will increase discord in Belarusian society.
“Maintaining neutrality as a goal intensifies ambivalence within Belarusian society and the state apparatus with a tendency to deepen the internal conflict. This is a problem for Russia as an ally. From such a draft Constitution it would follow that the shock of August 2020 did not lead to the development of a clear vector of movement for Minsk. Probably, the final decision on this issue is left to Alexander Lukashenko.
Outwardly, it looks like the apparatus is not ready to change the logic of the policies of past years and is waiting for the political will of the first person. But such a project confuses opponents of revolutions in the Republic of Belarus even more (and increases skepticism in Russia), because everyone understands that, like yesterday, it will not work out today. “Neutral positioning” will not provide a stable basis for development, but will lead to a more severe crisis,” Sutyrin wrote in his Telegram channel.
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