MEP: It's Important For EU And NATO To Recognize Kastus Kalinouski Regiment

Belorussian volunteers have to be included in our support program for Ukraine.

Why should Europe support the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment? Can Russia use the BelNPP for its criminal activities? Will Lukashenka be held accountable for crimes in Ukraine? The Charter97.org website spoke to Petras Auštrevičius, the MEP from Lithuania and European Parliament's Standing Rapporteur for Belarus.

— You've mentioned in your recent speech in the European Parliament the need for support for the Kalinouski Regiment. Why do you think it is important? Why do you think it is important?

— I regard them as freedom fighters who joined the Ukrainian military to repel the Russian war of aggression. They do it in a way of solidarity and support of Ukraine. I see them as patriots who will come back to Belarus in the future in order to protect sovereignty and democracy.

I'm sure they need even more support than they are given. I appreciate what the Ukrainian side does. But from the western side, it should be no difference who we support, train and equip: Ukrainians or Belarusians fighting in Ukraine for the time being.

I'm sure that training, equipment and armaments for them, in spite of any nationality difference, should be given as much as possible because they present to me one force fighting for freedom and a better future.

— Should there be a support program by the EU specifically for Belarusian fighters in Ukraine?

— From the EU, NATO or NATO partners — I would expand this list. For me, it's so important that we in the West recognize those Belarusian volunteers as those who need our support and political recognition. If we recognize them as they are — volunteers and freedom fighters — they have to be included in our support program for Ukraine.

In this framework of programs we can provide them assistance, training and other support, but first, it must be a very clear political recognition: with whom we are dealing, whom we have as partners, who are they and what are the tasks of those people. For me, it's a recognition of the cause: fight for the freedom of your neighbour.

But the time will come, the Kalinouski Regiment fighters will become those who will fight for Belarusian independence.

— Ukrainian MP Bohdan Yaremenko proposed an idea in his Facebook post that Lithuania could create a Belarusian military unit (platoon or company), so that Belarusian patriots would undergo systematic military training. Could this idea be developed further or the time has not yet come to discuss these things from the practical point of view?

— I think we have to understand one thing very clearly, now because of the existing arrangements, legal agreements and recognition of borders and states, we can do it for Belarusians once they are a part of this fighting force in Ukraine. So, within this framework, I would be very much in favour, and if Lithuania, Poland, Czechia and, hopefully, Germany might train those forces who fight in Ukraine and Belarusians together with them, it's easy, but they must be a part of the fighting force inside Ukraine. Otherwise, it would look like we are training somebody whom we might use against a third state in a kind of hostile way. Once the purpose and players are clear, it gives us all the possibilities — we need just a very clear political agreement, recognition and support.

— What to make of the thousands of Russian troops coming into Belarus right now? Should we brace ourselves for the potential spread of the war to Belarus?

— I think it's very serious. I see it as a step forward in escalation and increase of tensions. It's a very clearly calculated decision from the Russian side, no doubt.

Nobody knows about figures because we don't trust them. But the creation of this joint military formation is not just a step bringing the Belarusian military simply under Russian command, which will have the upper hand always and the Belarusians will have to follow the orders, which is a certain risk. It is a demonstration that Belarus is a kind of, sorry to say, a younger sister or younger brother in this, so to say, 'Union State'. It is one of the elements of absorption of the remaining Belarusian sovereignty and a structural and legal buildup into Russia. If it started from militaries, who might be next: border guards, customs, officials?

I see it in the light of present military escalation as a threat for us, regionally speaking. Because they are using 'weaponization' of migrants in one way, who can predict who will be those bringing those migrants? It might be a joint Belarusian-Russian group. So, I take it very seriously, and it should be taken seriously for the whole region because it is a bad sign for stability.

— Russian Armed Forces are capable of the most inhuman atrocious acts, as they proved many times. Should we worry about the safety of Astravets Nuclear Power Plant while Russian troops are in Belarus?

— I think, Astravets Nuclear Power Plant was and is a standing threat for a quite large region. It was designed and built with having in mind, probably, many aspects of bringing influence, having certain impacts, and probably installing a standing threat for neighbourhood, in case of something.

The installation in itself is not safe, as proved by many experts. If very important international technical conventions didn't become a standard in building a nuclear power plant, you can imagine how the process of maintenance and operation is going on: nobody knows, and we are left completely in limbo.

But in case of any accident which might be connected with, let's say, an explosion of a missile, I think, it would be a very black day for the large region.

— When you hear Russians talk about a dirty bomb or act of sabotage at the nuclear power plant in Ukraine, does it give you extra worries about Astravets Nuclear Power Plant?

— Definitely. If such a big nuclear object is given to the hands of masters who are irrational, who every day repeat threats to neighbours, I take it very seriously. Those concerns which we have proclaimed repeatedly for years and years, in this situation of military escalation it sounds like a real scenario that we have to assess very seriously. Every and each aspect of this is a hanging threat over us because of the structure of that object as well as the behaviour of the masters who run that object.

— A hypothetical question. Should there be a common action plan for Lithuania and other Western partners, in case of sabotage at the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant?

— Definitely. That accident might bring an absolutely disastrous situation. Radioactive pollution has a lasting and huge impact on territories nearby. So, that's why I'm sure in that case, we have to call for a certain article of NATO to be activated, as well as from the EU. I think we should see it as an attack of mass destruction weapons against our country.

It's a major risk which probably was misunderstood by many European politicians and perceived as a peaceful energy.

— You were one of the few in the West who were against Astravets NPP from the very beginning.

Looking forward, the day will come when Putin will have to answer for the genocide in Ukraine. Should Lukashenka also be held accountable for what's happening in Ukraine?

— I think we will always find an extra chair for him with his surname on it next to his master, because what he does now is enabling and assisting this act of aggression. It's not an empty claim from our side. We see it. It is all recorded.

If Lukashenka sees himself as a master of the state, people and territory, so who is responsible? The highest responsibility is on him. Of course, it happened through the infiltration of Russian troops and this occupation but he never rang a bell. He never said, "I need your assistance. I am under attack. I am under occupation. Please help me find the way out of the situation." I never heard the sound of a bell, which is normal in Europe: in a situation of danger you ask for support. It looks like it's good for him, he's a part of this game.

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