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Maxim Khil'ko: Lukashenka’s Commitments To Moscow Will Outweigh His Promises To Warsaw And Kyiv

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Maxim Khil'ko: Lukashenka’s Commitments To Moscow Will Outweigh His Promises To Warsaw And Kyiv
MAXIM KHIL'KO (TO THE RIGHT)
PHOTO: CHARTER97.ORG

Europe will never win in security matters, giving up values.

This was stated by Ukrainian political scientist, head of the board of the East European Security Research Initiative Foundation Maxim Khil'ko during the discussion "Geopolitical Situation in the Intermarium and Its Influence Over Human Rights in Belarus", which was held on September 28 at the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw .

The expert has noted that the increase in the interest of politicians and experts to the theme of the Intermarium appears of no surprise, given that the currently existing geopolitical alliances remain unable to give an adequate response to the security challenge posed by Russia, as well as to the dissatisfaction of a number of Central and Eastern European capitals with the position of Brussels, or rather Berlin and Paris, on a number of issues of common foreign and domestic policy.

Herein, it remains important for Warsaw, as well as Kyiv, not to repeat the mistakes of the EU, assuring themselves that important geopolitical goals may justify temporary withdrawal of the issues of democracy and human rights from the agenda of relations with the authoritarian regimes. First, the speculation that it is possible to win in terms of security by sacrificing values will not be justified. Military and political commitments of Minsk to Moscow will in any case outweigh its promises to Warsaw and Kyiv. Secondly, while developing the ideas of sub-regional cooperation, it is important not to forget that without the valuable basis any union will be deprived of the critical mass of solidarity, necessary for its endurance.

"Ukraine can play an important role in the post-Soviet space, as well as for the EU itself, where they are beginning to forget about the importance of values, the right to which Ukrainians are defending by force of arms. If Ukraine succeeds in reforms, overcomes the corruption and builds a strong, democratic state - it will be an example of an attractive model for other post-Soviet countries, including Belarus.

Herein, now it is important not to avoid inclusion of a political component in the relations with Minsk. Yanukovych’s example could have persuaded Lukashenka that tough crackdown ends up badly sooner or later, while democratization remains a chance for a peaceful transformation of the country. We need to make Minsk keep its promises in the field of information and cooperation and put Ukrainian TV channels on air, because today the Belarusians’ opinion about the events in Ukraine and the world is formed mainly by the Kremlin propaganda.

The support of the independent Belarusian media, which pay efforts to objectively inform the population of the country, also on the events in Ukraine, remains very important. Together with other countries, especially Poland, we need to facilitate close cooperation at the level of the civil society - NGOs, human rights activists and experts. The main thing here is not to confuse NGOs with the numerous GONGOs – the "Trojan horses" of not even the official Minsk, but rather the Kremlin ", - the expert has said.

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