Belarus' Accession To NATO: Simplest And Most Valid Argument

Look at the map.

Why should Belarus become a member of NATO?

Andrei Sannikov, the leader of the European Belarus civic campaign, answered this question on Charter97.org Studio X97. The host is Yevgeny Klimakin.

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- You always say that Belarus is Europe and will be part of the European Union in the future. Should Belarus be part of NATO?

- Definitely yes. Besides, there will be no security in Europe without Belarus. Ukraine will not solve the problem of European security. It is a balcony, look at the map and you will see a beautiful, as if specially created for Russian imperialists, balcony for attacking Europe, first of all Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. And if this balcony does not become an independent Belarus without dictators, there will be no security in Europe.

That is why I am constantly talking with my Ukrainian friends, partners, that Ukraine must have security guarantees. Absolutely right. But include Belarus. Without a guarantee from this side, the theory of buffer zones, that you can fish somewhere in a grey zone and guarantee security, collapsed with Russia's attack on Ukraine. As the well-known politician and diplomat Kurt Volker, who was once the US President's representative in Ukraine, said:

"The grey zone is a green light! That is, it is an invitation to aggression. So there should be no such grey areas. And if Europe harmonises its borders, it will provide security. And today only NATO provides security in Europe.

The EU has tried to create its own armed forces, and something has happened. Probably the coordination between the armed forces of the European armies, i.e. the European countries, has increased. But this is not a functioning army like NATO has. Look at how clearly NATO functions today, despite the differences that have emerged and existed.

Why does Stoltenberg remain for a third term? Because he is a world leader who perfectly steers the huge machine of NATO's military-political organisation, being both captain and navigator at the same time. And if NATO had failed, if it had started to think about what it could do and what it couldn't do, and had not started to help Ukraine, not immediately, we admit, but it did, then Ukraine would not exist today, let's be honest. That is why NATO today provides security and even the perimeter of Europe.

- The idea of Belarus joining NATO. Do Belarusians support it?

- I have been following this line since the beginning of 2000. And our European Belarus citizens' campaign supports these positions. Sooner or later we will have to make that choice.

We cannot choose neutrality. I'm not a big fan of the political "we should be neutral" argument.

Guys, take a pencil and work out how much it would cost. Sweden, the richest country, is now joining NATO. Why? They've been spending huge amounts of money on defence to ensure that neutrality. They will now spend less than this fixed 2% because they have spent much more on their defence. So we are talking about neutrality that we can somehow include in some agreements. ..... First of all, agreements with Russia are impossible. What can we say about trade and economic agreements? Russia has withdrawn from the nuclear agreements that we have been talking about. By withdrawing from the agreements, it immediately increased the danger for the whole world. It immediately undermined international peace and security. So this is out of the question.

Dangling between Russia and Europe? Well, that's it, that's the end for the state.