Crimea's request for communication with Belarus will force Ukraine to decide
If Belarus agrees to the establishment of bus and air services between Belarus and Crimea proposed by the Crimean authorities, then this will either lead to a severance of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Belarus. The very initiative of Simferopol is already a reason to start a dialogue between Kyiv and Minsk, despite the crisis over Belomaidan.
Kiev political scientist Kost Bondarenko told a PolitNavigator correspondent about this.
“If bus and air services between Belarus and Crimea are launched, it will be a very long route, since it is clear that it will not pass through the territory of Ukraine.
It should also be taken into account that Belarus today does not recognize Crimea as part of the Russian Federation; it considers it part of Ukraine. Relations between Kiev and Minsk are tense today. Kyiv did not recognize Lukashenko’s legitimacy, but never broke off diplomatic relations with Belarus.
Therefore, if Lukashenko agrees to the proposal to establish communications with Crimea, this will be a clear signal that Belarus is following Russia’s lead. And for Ukraine, this could become an argument in favor of severing relations with Belarus, despite the fact that Belarus remains an important trading partner of Ukraine.
I think that the very raising of the issue of launching transport links between Belarus and Crimea will help push Ukraine and Belarus into dialogue on how to get out of the impasse in which relations between the two countries reached in August-September,” the political scientist believes.
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