{"id":11422,"date":"2022-05-29T12:15:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T09:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/minsk-trying-to-sit-on-two-chairs-after-russian-invasion-of-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"minsk-trying-to-sit-on-two-chairs-after-russian-invasion-of-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11422\/","title":{"rendered":"Minsk trying to sit on two chairs after Russian invasion of Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t * Reproduction prohibited\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b>The leaders of Belarus and Russia on May 26 held their fifth meeting this year amid international isolation. Their discussions are seen as mutual psychotherapy sessions.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>\u0141uka\u0161enka does his best to verbally help Putin<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The Russian president said after the talks that his country would provide targeted funding for manufacturing import-substitution projects in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Obviously, the two leaders discussed the Ukraine war and its repercussions.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka&nbsp;reiterated the accusation that Poland, acting with support from NATO, seeks to annex western Ukraine. The false story was planted by Sergei Naryshkin, Russia\u2019s foreign intelligence chief, a month ago. It casts Belarus and Russia as defenders of Ukraine from the West\u2019s evil designs and is intended to drive a wedge between Kyiv and Warsaw. \u0141uka\u0161enka quoted it to substantiate his earlier claim that Poland seeks to seize western Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka did his best to support Putin and demonstrate his loyalty at his recent meetings with the Russian president. Putin said that the Russian economy was doing well despite the Western sanctions. \u0141uka\u0161enka echoed him and attempted to amplify that message. He said that \u201cRussia\u2019s economy is not only getting stronger, but is unexpectedly getting much stronger,\u201d noting that \u201cthe unemployment is down,\u201d \u201cthe ruble has strengthened at a crazy pace.\u201d He added that effective import substitution was possible \u201cfor a ridiculously small amount of money.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Clearly, the main purpose of \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s servility is to obtain Russian economic assistance, but it was not the only purpose.\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Minsk, Moscow play up threats from NATO<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The two leaders have met face-to-face quite often in the last few months. The Kremlin may be pushing for Belarus\u2019 more active involvement in Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, but \u0141uka\u0161enka seems to have doubts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He has ramped up his anti-Western and pro-Russian rhetoric but stopped short of sending Belarusian troops to Ukraine to help the struggling Russian army.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka and his generals have played up threats from NATO recently.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &#8220;Under the guise of these maneuvers\u2019 defensive focus, they are working out the transfer of troops from the US and Western Europe, the creation and use of groupings. We see the true goals of NATO\u2019s activities. Essentially, this is reconnaissance and getting a grip on a potential future theater of military operations. In line with the US plan, Europe and NATO entered into a global confrontation with Russia. Belarus will have to face unprecedented and prolonged economic, political and even military pressure in this struggle,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka told generals on May 26.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He said military pressure would be exerted through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and the NATO troops stationed there, as well as through hostilities in Ukraine, stressing that \u201cmore than ever, the troops are required to be ready to give an adequate response to military encroachments on Belarus at any moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<h2> <span>Cheap show<\/span> <\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Minsk deliberately exaggerates threats emanating from NATO to defend its refusal to send troops to Ukraine. It claims that Belarus needs to keep considerable forces at its border with Latvia, Lithuania and Poland otherwise Belarus and Russia would be exposed to a surprise attack from NATO.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t In a show of commitment to the military alliance with Russia, the Belarusian ruler last week ordered the establishment of the army\u2019s Southern Operational Command. But Moscow may not buy into it.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The day \u0141uka\u0161enka met with Putin, BelTA, a state-run news agency, ran the Belarusian leader\u2019s message to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in which he denied Minsk\u2019s involvement in Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine and trumpeted his peace-making efforts.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Minsk\u2019s foreign policy is built around a mix of two conflicting messages: a declaration of support for the Russian aggression and appeals for peace. The inconsistency proves that the Belarusian authorities are in disarray.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d * Reproduction prohibited The leaders of Belarus and Russia on May 26 held their fifth meeting this year amid international isolation. Their discussions are seen as mutual psychotherapy sessions. \u0141uka\u0161enka does his best to verbally help Putin The Russian president said after the talks that his country would provide targeted funding for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11422","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Minsk trying to sit on two chairs after Russian invasion of Ukraine | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d * Reproduction prohibited The leaders of Belarus and Russia on May 26 held their fifth meeting this year amid international\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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