BPR Council: Russian military base poses threat to Belarus's independence

A Russian military base will hinder Belarus from breaking the international isolation.

By giving permission to open a Russian airbase in Belarus, the official authorities help increase offensive capabilities of Putin's Russia by pitting Belarus against other countries of our region and the Euro-Atlantic community as a whole.

The statement was released by the Council of the Belarusian People's Republic (BPR), Radio Svaboda reports.

The BPR Council emphasises that setting up a Russian military base will hinder Belarus from breaking the international isolation.

The statement notes that circumstances of the illegal annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia demonstrate the Kremlin's readiness to use its foreign military bases against the countries that allowed to open them in their territory. The BPR Council states in this connection that setting up the Russian military base would significantly increase the threat to Belarus's independence and would give the Putin regime an important lever to influence Belarus.

The BPR Council stresses that Aliaksandr Lukashenka, who hasn't been Belarus's legitimate president since 1996, doesn't have the legal right to take decisions on behalf of the Republic of Belarus, neither does the so called national assembly of the Republic of Belarus, which was formed in violation of law and democratic norms.

The BPR Council draws attention to the fact that the opening of a foreign military base in Belarus doesn't comply with the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, which declares the country's aspiration for the neutral status.

The BPR Council states that the foreign policy conducted by the current official authorities of the Republic of Belarus, which continue to rely on trading Belarus's sovereignty in exchange for economic and political sponsorship from the Kremlin, again demonstrates their direct danger for Belarus's statehood and contradiction to the interests of the people of Belarus, as well as to the interests of international security.

The BPR Council calls on the signers of the Vilnius Memorandum, as well as on other Belarusian political figures supporting the ideas of democracy and the independence of Belarus, to apply all efforts to resist the setting up of the foreign military base in Belarus.

The BPR Council calls on the governments of all friendly countries to put diplomatic pressure on the official authorities of the Republic of Belarus to prevent the opening of the airbase of Putin's Russia in Belarus that would pose an additional threat to peace and security in Europe.