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Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz: Any Campaign With Lukashenka Against the Kremlin Is Failing

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Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz: Any Campaign With Lukashenka Against the Kremlin Is Failing
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz
PHOTO BY MSZ.GOV.PL

Minsk can promote relations with the West as much as Moscow allows.

Former Polish ambassador to Russia, ex-Deputy Foreign Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz writes in Gazeta Wyborcza (translated by InoTV).

De facto Moscow is an economic sponsor and political patron of Minsk, she believes. Trying to build up economic bridges with Belarus Poland risks not only its capital, but confidence of its citizens, the former ambassador believes.

"A pragmatic cooperation with Minsk could benefit Poland. But there is a need to see how much the game is complicated to succeed. You can be easily beaten," Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz writes.

"Over 25 years we have been equal partners seeking mutual success in political, economic and interpersonal dealings", this is the quote from Sovetskaya Belarus of October 25, 2016."This text would not sound ridiculous, if it described relations between Minsk and Moscow. Meanwhile, it means relations with Warsaw, and it is a fragment of the article signed by Polish Deputy Prime Minister, which was published on the day of his visit to Belarus," the author explains.

During that visit Mateusz Morawiecki in conversation with Aliaksandr Lukashenka also said that "Poland is the gateway to the East for the European Union and Belarus is the gateway to the West for the Eurasian Union." The Prime Minister also took part in the Polish-Belarusian economic forum, which was attended by over a hundred representatives of Polish business. "This has been the first Polish visit at such a high level over the years," Pełczyńska-Nałęcz stresses.

Dialogue with Lukashenka carries a positive potential. An attempt to inscribe Polish-Belarusian relations in a European context is praiseworthy, she adds.

However, when making contacts with Belarus at the highest political level some aspects should be considered, former Polish ambassador to Russia points out.

First of all, it is not quite right in relations with Belarus to refer to the Eurasian Union. "No matter whom we address, its headquarters will always locate in Moscow. Moreover, the promotion of equal contacts between the EEU and the EU is one of the key Russian postulates that Polish diplomacy should restrain. It would mean that Brussels recognized the legitimacy of a Russian sphere of influence", the author notes.

"It should be clear that Minsk can promote relations with the West as much as Moscow allows," she stresses. "In other words, any campaign with Lukashenka against the Kremlin is failing. A limited rapprochement between Minsk and the West is playing into hands of Russia, because it partially removes the burden of support of inefficient Belarusian regime", Pełczyńska-Nałęcz adds.

An economic rapprochement with Belarus also brings economic and political risks. Investments to this country can barely influence the regime. Thus, it will give Lukashenka and Moscow a potential mechanism of pressure on the Polish business.

Lukashenka's decisions on private issues are not bound by independent courts and legal institutions, the author explains.

"It is worth remembering that we deal with the Lukashenka who has suppressed the opposition in his country; despite democratic rules he has been running the country for more than 20 years," she warns.

For years the Polish state has execrated the violation of human rights in Belarus, it has also supported pro-democratic civil community. "The pragmatic economic cooperation should not cross this direction in Polish policy towards Minsk," Pełczyńska-Nałęcz adds. Former Polish ambassador to Russia believes that in future it is worth thinking about a meeting with representatives of civil society while Polish official visits.

"Let us finally be persistent in the end. There is no slightest reason to make Polish Prime Minister sign under a statement that the Belarusian regime has built relationships with Warsaw being guided by their own and our advantage. Poles in Belarus, and not only there can be shocked by such interpretation," Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz concludes.

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