Belarus lost military sovereignty after Russia started war in Ukraine – political expert

August 24, BPN. One of many consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine is the loss of Belarus’ military sovereignty, “and this is not a metaphor,” Juryj Drakachrust, political observer at RFE/RL Belarus Service, told BPN in an interview on the occasion of six months since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In his opinion, the rejection of war by ordinary Belarusians was clear at once with polls indicating that over 80 percent want Belarusian troops to stay away.

Drakachrust noted that on February 27, the third day of the war, thousands of Belarusians took to the street with an antiwar protest, and later antiwar groups “carried out a series of railway sabotage acts.”

A Belarusian armed volunteer force was formed in Ukraine, he added.

“Some will say that there are a lot of them [volunteers], some will say that they are not many. But, in my opinion, Belarusians are second only to Georgians in terms of numbers fighting on the side of Ukraine. It’s a significant group,” he said.

He added that Belarus faces international isolation as well as new sanctions with a “sad” outlooks for the economy due to the regime’s complicity in the aggression against Ukraine.

A 20,000-strong grouping of Russian forces crossed into Ukraine from Belarus at the outset of the war, Alaksandr Łukašenka told AFP in an interview on July 21. Russian troops retreated from northern Ukraine later.