Ales Yauseyenka: Young Generation Of Patriots Will Preserve Belarus

If no one teaches patriotism to our children at schools, we should bring up the love for Belarus in them.

The Belarusian-Russian military exercises West-2017 will start on September 14. The preparations for the maneuvers are in full swing, the Russian military equipment and soldiers arrive in our country. Military and political observers say that Belarus can become the Kremlin's next target. Our western neighbors are also concerned about the large-scale exercises, moreover, the General Staff of Belarus considers the Baltic countries and Poland as a "conventional adversary" in military maneuvers. Do the Russians want the war? How should the Belarusian patriots act in the face of the threat? The website Сharter97.org asked representative of the Belarusian National Congress in Homel Ales Yauseyenka about this.

— In your opinion, is there a real threat of occupation of our country? Too many issues are connected with these exercises...

— We witnessed the development of the events in Ukraine, how the Crimea was captured. It is alarming that the situation is very similar: there were Russian military bases, "green men" did their stuff. Such scenario seems possible here, since the Belarusian military leaders are not exactly patriotic. The authorities have forgotten about our history, culture, traditions and made some pitiful semblance of the USSR of our country.

If someone thinks that the Russians will not fight against Belarusians with arms, this is a big mistake. Our special services can be called the Minsk branch of the FSB, since all the top officials served in the Russian structures. When a person is trained at the territory of another country, the probability that they were recruited is 90%. We have a majority of such leaders. If several thousand military men remain at our territory after the exercises, not conscript soldiers, but specially trained forces, then "soft occupation" of our country is possible.

— There is reaction to every action. How should Belarusian patriots react to the Russian threat?

— We need patriotic upbringing. However weird it may sound, Belarusians should be taught how to be Belarusians. The authorities are erasing the identity of our nation – no peculiarities are seen when you come to Belarus. There is a feeling that we live in some cheap copy of Russia. This system does not identify itself with Belarus: we have the Russian propaganda, the Russian education system. Let's take Tatarstan, Chechnya, where the authorities have more national self-consciousness, even though they are part of the Russian Federation. If in schools our children are not taught patriotism, we should bring up the love for Belarus in them, for its national symbols, then the younger generation will preserve our Belarus.