Russia’s position in the Belarusian incident.

Kremlin relations

On May 23, a plane was urgently landed in Belarus with an activist blogger Roman Protasevich, the former editor-in-chief of the Nexta telegram channel, on board. According to official data, the reason was the message about the mining of the airliner, but as it turned out later, it turned out to be false. This event led to many questions, the answers to which were given in a recent press conference by a member of the Council for Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, Deputy Director of the Center for Ukrainian and Belarusian Studies, Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov Bogdan Bezpalko and head of the Center for Economic Research of the Institute of New Society Vasily Koltashov.

vesti.ru

One of the main and most troubling questions: what is Russia’s position?

Expert’s opinion:

“I believe that the Russian leadership is still striving for integration”, said Bogdan Bezpalko.

 In his opinion, the authorities will slow down the pace of providing Belarus and the political regime of Alexander Lukashenko with any assets that will still be provided in order to ensure stability in Belarus and prevent the radical opposition from coming to power.  Bogdan mentioned that this will lead Belarus to the state in which Ukraine is located, which will significantly worsen the position of Russia in all spheres.  Russia has to maneuver between many scenarios: on the one hand, support Lukashenka so that he “does not fall,” and on the other hand, force him to integrate.

Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin urged not to politicize the situation in Belarus.

On May 28, a meeting of the heads of the two states took place, the goals and results of which were not disclosed. Experts are sure: Lukashenkо turned to Putin for financial support.

In this ambiguous situation, it is only clear that Belarus will face long proceedings, and whether there will be consequences for Russia is unknown.