Zmitser Bandarenka To Vladimir Putin: Whoever Brings Sword Here Will Fall By Sword!

Russia should think long and hard about whether to interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus on Lukashenka's side.

One of the leaders of the Belarusian opposition, European Belarus civil campaign coordinator Zmitser Bandarenka commented for the Charter97.org on the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin about his readiness to send Russian Interior Ministry officers to Belarus.

- I fully agree with Vladimir Putin that the Belarusians and Russians are united by numerous family ties. My wife is Russian, she was born in Siberia and lived on the Volga River in the great Russian city of Nizhniy Novgorod (in Soviet times - Gorky) until she was 20 years old. I love my wife very much, we have been married for 36 years, our marriage was consecrated in the Catholic church in 2006.

I also agree with the Russian president that Belarus and Russia have very close economic ties. First of all - in industry, it is undoubtedly. That is why I dare to say that whoever becomes the new president of Belarus, his first visit will be made to Moscow, because Russia is our market and no one is going to break the economic ties.

I also agree with Putin that we have a lot in common in the cultural space, and perhaps, one of our favorite films as children was "Alexander Nevsky", so the Russian president should remember well the words of the Novgorod governor: "Whoever brings the sword here will fall by the sword". These words are even more important for the Belarusians, because a knight with a sword is depicted on our thousand-year-old Slavic coat of arms "Pahonia".

I am very surprised by this Putin's statement, because I consider him to be a strong and strategically thinking politician, who cares about security and progressive development of his state. This statement contains such features that not only will not strengthen Russia's security, but will seriously harm it.

The very statement that Russia can send Interior Ministry officers to Belarus is nonsense. Such a statement is interference in the internal affairs of Belarus and in accordance with international law, the reaction of the international community to this statement will be very tough.

I don't understand why Putin, with his authority, is trying to support a three-percent loser dictator who, having lost the election, wants to stay in power by killing and repressing his own citizens. In this situation, the presence of Russian policemen in Belarus will trigger an immediate reaction from the Belarusians. Vladimir Putin knows well that the partisan gene in the Belarusians is very strong.

The response to the interference in the Belarusian internal affairs will be Western sanctions, which could put the Russian Federation on the verge of survival. Today it is absolutely clear that the U.S., Arab countries, other oil and gas producing countries can fully compensate Russian energy supplies to Europe, which will have terrible consequences for the Russian economy.

I would like to say that the USSR collapsed after the powerful Soviet army invaded weak and backward Afghanistan. It is not worth repeating these mistakes, which may lead to Russia's disintegration. Yes, there are no high mountains in Belarus like in Afghanistan, but 2/3 of our territory is covered with forests and swamps, and 2,000 out of 3,000 kilometers of the border fall on the borders with the brotherly peoples of Belarus who are either in NATO or have set a goal to join there.

I hope for the sanity of the Russian leadership, Lukashenka is our internal problem. There is no need to be nervous, no need to undermine the authority. It is better to think how to preserve our good and brotherly relations in the future, not to tear them up, as it happened with Ukraine.

The Belarusians are the owners of their country, and we can determine by ourselves who will be the new president in Belarus after holding free and fair elections.

If you like this article, you can support the website Charter97.org

MULTI-CURRENCY ACCOUNT FOR ASSISTANCE:

Bank's name: Bank Millennium S.A.
Address: ul. Stanislawa Zaryna, 2A, 02-593, Warszawa
IBAN: PL 97 1160 2202 0000 0002 1671 1123
SWIFT: BIGBPLPW
Name of the account holder: Fundacja “KARTA ‘97”
Purpose/title of payment: Donation for statuary aims

You can contact us by the e-mail charter97@gmail.com