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Zmitser Bandarenka: Belarusians Protect Europe From “Russian World”

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Zmitser Bandarenka: Belarusians Protect Europe From “Russian World”
Zmitser Bandarenka

NATO has recognized the threat coming from Lukashenka’s regime.

Coordinator of the “European Belarus” civil campaign Zmitser Bandarenka has said this in an interview to charter97.org, commenting upon the results of the NATO summit which took place on July 8-9 in Poland.

– NATO held the biggest summit in its history in Warsaw. How do you assess its results?

– There have been many important themes at the summit: from Ukraine to the struggle against the international terrorism. Actually, all these themes are closely connected with Belarus as placement of four new battalions in Poland and the Baltic States looks an attempt to minimize the military threat coming from the territory of Belarus from Lukashenka’s regime and the united Belarusian-Russian military group.

The second very important issue is acknowledging the existence of the cyber-war and the importance of joint actions of the NATO member states in the resistance to the cyber-attacks from either Russia or the ISIL and other terrorist organizations. The concept “cyber-war” surely includes withstanding the informational war as a part of the hybrid attack.

– Nevertheless, Belarus wasn’t on the agenda officially, there was no Belarusian delegation, no statements mentioned the Belarusian theme in fact. Why have you made such conclusions?

– Because the said battalions will be geographically located in the countries that Belarus borders with. Everybody notes they play the role of certain “signal mines”. In case of a serious attack from the Belarusian side these battalions will not be capable of real resistance. However, they demonstrate the bosses of Russia that the leading NATO country will protect the Baltic States and Poland.

The main threat is coming from the territory of Lukashenka’s Belarus, and I am aware that the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, Andrei Sannikov in particular, have been saying that the dictator regime jeopardized the regional security, for many years. Everybody laughed and said “What army does Lukashenka have?” And then we said that the army was not the point, it’s the strategic location of Belarus that matters, but many politicians had a light-hearted attitude to what we said. The NATO military men had another vision, they perceive threats at an absolutely different level, and it was not for nothing that many experts stated in the margins of this conference in the framework of the summit that, unfortunately, the Belarusian army is perceived as a part of the Russian army, and the territory of Belarus is considered a foothold for attacking the EU countries and Ukraine.

– When will the European officials finally acknowledge this threat?

– Sadly, this seems to be taking years. The first sensible assessment of the strategic importance of Belarus and the threat coming from the dictator Lukashenka regime appeared after the military exercises in 2009. I would like to remind that many politicians in Lithuania, Poland, and former democratic President of Ukraine Victor Yuschenko acted as lobbyists of Lukashenka’s regime tat that time, being its advocates, and facilitated provision of the several billion dollars credit by the IMF and even more by the other banks, to the regime.

It turned out later that the joint Russian-Belarusian military exercises were actually held for the Western money, and they trained striking a nuclear blow against Warsaw and the tank penetration through the Suwalki Gap to Kaliningrad from the territory of Belarus. Let us call a spade a spade: they also trained suppression of protests of the Polish minority in Hrodna. It was then the military men started saying that the politicians were doing something wrong. Former Minister of Defense of Poland Romuald Szeremietiew rang the tocsin saying it was a real threat both for Poland and the Baltic States. So, they have been discussing Suwalki Gap at the NATO summits for seven years. This is the main danger. There is an approximately 90 kilometers distance between Belarus and Kaliningrad. Also, all media discuss whether Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons.

Politicians sometimes make mistakes without realizing what they do, or get used (consciously or secretly) as lobbyists of Lukashenka and Putin regimes. The military men are forced to correct their mistakes afterwards, placing the military contingent around the potential aggressor country.

However, if we believe that politicians have already made all possible mistakes, we are wrong. For example, today Russia opened a propagandist portal “Sputnik Belarus” in Belarus, getting prepared for the hybrid war. At the same time, part of the Belarusian youth undergoes militarized preparation with shootings at the territory of Belarus, initiated by some organizations of the “Russian Cossacks”. We also see activation of the Russian Orthodox fellowships headed by the priests who used to serve in the KGB, the police, or the special forces. So what does the West do in such conditions? The West significantly reduces help to the independent media in Belarus and suspends important projects of aid to the victims of repressions. I consider suspending of the Kastus Kalinouski program which allowed repressed students and children of the repressed opposition activists to continue their education in Poland, a serious blow against the Belarusian opposition. They also stopped some other projects that considerably supported the Belarusian civil society and the Belarusian media. Thus, politicians still make mistakes.

– It is known that the Kastus Kalinouski program was not closed but transformed as, according to its directors, the flow of repressed students from Belarus had reduced.

– When I was in prisons, I knew I could not give my daughter higher education in Belarus. They would let her study at the paid department in the best case, and then expel. Knowing that my daughter could study in Poland helped me to continue my struggle.

Today, hundreds of activists who were repressed before have no opportunity to help their children and it will set certain limits on their activities. The only good thing is, I spoke to CEO of the Kalinouski program Jan Malicki, who said that in case of increased repressions the program of aid to the students would be resumed.

– Let us get back to the NATO summit. The day before, a Polish expert said that Belarus had no control over its own armed forces today. Does it seem to you that this statement totally demolishes the new (old) European policy regarding Lukashenka’s regime?

– Actually, it does. Such sensible assessment serves as the basis for the decisions of the military men, who suggested placing small NATO military contingents in the countries-objects of potential aggression.

Ukraine managed to beat down Russia’s aggression, although with some territorial losses, and remained a shield for the EU countries. Lukashenka’s force structures support Putin and the “Russian world” and will protect neither dictator Lukashenka nor the national interests of Belarus. It is not the authorities, but the opposition and the independent media that guarantee the independence of Belarus today. At present, the democratic Belarusians are defending the European interests and the European values from the “Russian world”.

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