Why is Belarus opening up to the enemies of Russia?

On May 26, 1995, near the Belarusian village of Rechka, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin dug up a border pillar. Such a bright symbolic gesture marked the beginning of a rapprochement between the two fraternal peoples, which culminated in the ratification of the Treaty on the Establishment of the Union State on January 26, 2000.

Unfortunately, the provisions of the agreement were largely never implemented, but the border between Russia and Belarus disappeared for a long time, appearing only in 2017 after the appearance of the famous “Belarusian visa-free regime.”

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It is difficult to say what dictated this strange innovation by Lukashenko. Perhaps he wanted in this way to ensure the occupancy of hotels, of which many were built for the 2014 World Hockey Championship and even more were built for the 2019 European Games, and perhaps to stimulate the domestic market at the expense of foreign tourists.

_{It is possible that the main motives were political - to give a signal to the West and demonstrate the ability to make decisions that run counter to the interests of Moscow.}

Be that as it may, on January 9, 2017, Lukashenko signed a decree, according to which citizens of 80 countries (the entire European Union, the USA, Canada, Australia, most countries in Asia and Latin America, as well as several African ones) were able to enter Belarus for up to 5 days without a visa through the Minsk-2 national airport. To do this, they only had to show their passport, some money and a health insurance policy.

Of course, Russia was not at all satisfied with the fact that its ally had made its country a gateway and already in February 2017 it established a border zone on the border with Belarus, and on May 15 of the same year all Belarusian flights were transferred to international terminals.

But this did not stop Lukashenko. He publicly called the Belarusian-Russian border “the strangest in Europe” and only widened the gap in the security of Russia, the border with which, despite passport control, remained quite porous. The period of visa-free stay was increased first to 10, and then to 30 days; in addition to Minsk airport, it became possible to enter Belarus without a visa through the airports of regional centers, and then through border crossings.

The coronavirus, of course, put migration flows on pause, although Lukashenko, being a Covid skeptic, prevented this until the last moment. Since the Covid policies in the two member countries of the Union State were strikingly different, the eastern border of Belarus was also locked for a long time. But the pandemic does not last forever, and as Covid restrictions were lifted, the Belarusian visa-free regime returned. The tragic events of the summer-autumn 2020 also did not affect him in any way.

Nobody has officially canceled the aviation visa-free visa, but as for the ground visa-free visa, it was first introduced this year for citizens of Latvia and Lithuania during the Easter holidays - from April 15 to May 15, and then completely extended until the end of the year.

Despite the negative reaction of the authorities of their own states, Latvians and Lithuanians took advantage of the invitation and now the number of their visits to Belarus is already approaching one hundred thousand. How many came to visit relatives and friends, how many came to buy cheap gasoline and food, and how many had goals that were not so harmless for the security of Belarus and Russia, one can only guess. But I am sure that it would not have happened without such people.

Finally, on June 30, amid talk of an open policy, it was announced that a similar regime would be introduced with Poland, whose citizens will freely travel to Belarus through border crossings from July 1 until the end of the year. But the timing for demonstrating such an open policy was, to put it mildly, unfortunate. Moreover, for several reasons at once.

Firstly, a special operation is currently underway on the territory of Ukraine. And Belarus and Russia have plenty of enemies in the West.

_{Who will guarantee that the unhindered crossing of the Belarusian-Polish border will not be used, for example, by Ukrainian and other saboteurs? Then crossing the long and poorly guarded Belarusian-Russian border will not be difficult for them. And the Belarusians themselves have something to fear - Ukrainian intelligence has already hinted at sabotage in Mozyr.}

Secondly, the next lifting of visa restrictions was announced on the day when the IX Forum of Regions of Russia and Belarus began in Grodno (by the way, not far from the border with Poland). This step alone largely invalidates the cheerful statements made there.

And finally, there is a third, symbolic meaning. Visa-free travel began at 00:01 on July 1. In the history of Belarus, this day does not have the best reputation. It was on July 1, 1569 that the Union of Lublin was concluded, uniting the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland. For the ancestors of the Belarusians, this meant two centuries of forced Polishing and Catholicization, which only Catherine the Great could put an end to.

_{Opening the doors wide open to the Poles on this day at a time when they do not hide their hatred of Russia and the desire to form “Intermarium,” a new imperial project centered in Poland, looks like ideological sabotage.}

I hope, of course, that this is just an accident, but such things need to be taken into account when making decisions.

In general, times are tough now. And it is better not to demonstrate openness to those who are obviously hostile, but, on the contrary, to start blurring the boundaries with allies again.