Poland’s Ex-Minister Of Defense: Belarusian Army Is Part Of Russian One

Russia has not abandoned its strategic plan - to weaken the European Union.

Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz, one of the leaders of the Polish labour union Solidarity, ex-defense minister of Poland and former vice-chairman of the European Parliament, does not give up active political activities – he is now an adviser to the defense minister of the Republic of Poland and participates in the work of the North Atlantic Council of NATO. Janusz Onyszkiewicz has visited Minsk to participate in the discussion on the civilian control of military structures, Thinktanks.by writes.

Russia has completely exhausted European trust.

Janusz Adam Onyszkiewicz does not yet consider the current relationship between the European Union and Russia as a new cold war, he calls them "a very cold peace." In his opinion, now even Vladimir Putin begins to understand that the tactics of pressure and threats will not affect Europe, that "there will be no concessions to Russia." "There are some speculations today, say, Russia is developing a new approach in relations with the West, we will see what kind of approach it is – some time needs to pass after the election of the Russian president," – the politician said. – The main problem in our relations with Russia is a complete lack of trust on the part of Europe. And what trust can we talk about if Russia has shown that it does not see it necessary to execute the international law? It has demonstrated that it can start a preventive war."

Janusz Onyszkiewicz recalls that Russia first used this form of war in Georgia in 2008: "Everybody's attention was drawn to South Ossetia then, in relation to which the Russians could bring some arguments against the policy of Mikhail Saakashvili, etc. But nobody spoke about Abkhazia – and there were no arguments from Russia, except that the decision about the war was taken on the basis of events that could happen. Then this situation repeated in the Crimea. There was no threat to the Russians, but Russia said that such a threat could exist."

According to Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Europe understands that at least some trust needs to be restored or built by the efforts of both sides, but so far nothing promises that such efforts can be undertaken: "The problem is that Russia has not abandoned its strategic plan – to weaken the European Union, to split the EU and the US so as to gain its benefits in terms of the balance of power between the EU and Russia. We will wait for some steps from Moscow, but Europe, I think, will not make any concessions. Europe needs to keep its line of defense and at the same time hope that Russia will understand that its policies are harmful to its own interests."

The Belarusian Army is part of the Russian military machine

The following situation makes it difficult to believe in the absolute security of the neighborhood with Belarus: "How can the Belarusian military and politicians be able to combine the desire for neutrality, recorded in the Constitution, and the duties of an ally of a country that is very aggressive? We know that now there is no Belarusian autonomous air defense, we know that there is a guarantee on the part of Belarus to protect Russian military facilities on the territory of Belarus in case of a threat to these facilities. All this reduces Belarus to the status of a not completely independent country. And for us it is also a problem. From our point of view, the Belarusian army is part of the Russian military structure," – the Polish politician said.