Zmitser Bandarenka: By Flirting With Lukashenka, West Undermines Its Own Security

Belarus and Russia’s dictatorial regimes are a threat to neighboring countries.

Politicians in a number of European countries are primarily interested in establishing trade relations, so when negotiating with Aliaksandr Lukashenka, they turn a blind eye to the authorities’ repressions against Belarusian citizens, Zmitser Bandarenka, a coordinator of the European Belarus civil campaign, said in a commentary to the Gordon periodical.

"If we talk about the threats from the West-2017 military exercises, we should pay attention to the fact that in recent years, the approaches of politicians and military to the situation in Belarus have varied a lot." Politicians of neighboring states have to deal with the Belarus state under Lukashenka's control, so they have to turn a blind eye on some things happening in our country, in particular, the repressions against the civil society, violation of human rights, absence of elections, illegality of Lukashenka’s power. Foreign politicians try not to notice that, thinking about the trade," – Bandarenka says.

He draws attention to the close ties between the armed forces of Belarus and Russia.

"Now to the military. Last year, there was a NATO summit in Warsaw, and as a result, it was decided to deploy Alliance battalions in Poland and the Baltic countries, and to increase the presence of the American contingent in European countries. Western military proceed from the assumption that Belarus is an integral part of the Russian Federation military. For example, there is a joint group of air defense and other structures. So the attitude towards Lukashenka, who has supposedly become more liberal, is in contradiction with the concrete fact of conducting large scale military exercises together with the Russian Federation," – Bandarenka underlines.

According to him, the "dictatorial regimes" of Belarus and Russia are a threat to neighboring countries.

"The politicians, who used to call themselves Lukashenka's friends, face with the fact that the reality in Belarus is much tougher than they thought. While Lukashenka was being the best friends with President Poroshenko in Kiev, the Ukrainian Defense Minister announced a serious threat from the territory of Belarus during the West - 2017. Poland and the Baltic countries realize it as well. Democratic countries do not fight among themselves as a rule. But a dictatorial regime, in alignment with another, more powerful dictatorial regime, always carries a threat to its neighbors. This year, we have had most large-scale repressions since 2010, but no one is paying attention to that. Neighboring countries respond to the repressions in Belarus, only when they see a threat to their own security.

Flirting with Lukashenka, the West undermines its own security," – Bandarenka sums up.

The exercises West-2017 will be held from September 14 to September 20. Russian servicemen started arriving in Belarus on July 24.

According to the Minister of Defense of Estonia, Margus Tsakhkhn, Russia can use West-2017 to deploy thousands of soldiers in Belarus as a warning to NATO.

On June 30, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that carrying out West-2017 exercises on the border with Ukraine is a threat to the state.

The commander of the US ground forces in Europe, Lieutenant-General Ben Hodges, noted that the Russian-Belarussian exercises West-2017 could play the role of a "Trojan horse."

On August 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced to the State Duma a draft law on using air defense on the Belarusian border.