{"id":11448,"date":"2022-07-13T12:24:58","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T09:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-keeps-selling-moscow-his-readiness-to-stop-nato-tanks\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-keeps-selling-moscow-his-readiness-to-stop-nato-tanks","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11448\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka keeps selling Moscow his readiness to stop NATO tanks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t * Reproduction is allowed\n<\/p>\n

\n The Belarusian ruler keeps up his verbal attacks on imaginary fascists in an effort to stir up public hostility toward the West and disguise his reluctance to send troops to fight on the Russian side in Ukraine.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cModern fascists of NATO countries have not disappeared, have not died. And they are planning a strike [against Russia] through Ukraine and Belarus,\u201d he told a group of military school graduates in Minsk on July 12.\n<\/p>\n

Two leaders painting parallel realm<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before to discuss a hypothetical NATO attack. The two rulers live in a parallel realm full of imaginary neo-Nazi enemies.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cThe North Atlantic alliance\u2019s nouveau crusaders must have suddenly decided that the time has come for another \u2018thrust eastward,\u2019 as if they don\u2019t remember how similar crusades by their historical ancestors have ended,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The would-be officers might be confused by his mix of metaphors that he draws from his communist propaganda vocabulary. Crusaders and fascists come from different historical periods.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He failed to present any evidence to prove his claim that NATO planned to attack the Union State of Belarus and Russia.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t NATO has increased its military presence in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in a provoked response to Russia\u2019s recent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine as the Baltic countries look for additional security guarantees amid Russian attempts to annex new territories.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cToday, neutral Sweden and Finland suddenly expressed a desire to urgently join NATO, and the bloc’s leadership, contrary to its rules, is ready to admit them to the alliance on an expedited basis,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka said. \n<\/p>\n

\n\t It seems strange that he lectures NATO on its rules, pretending that Minsk and Moscow do not understand why the two Scandinavian nations are concerned.\n<\/p>\n

Tanks not rolling, subsidies keep flowing<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka absorbed Soviet anti-Western propaganda narratives when he was younger. The Soviet rhetoric was not as extreme as recent tirades coming out of Minsk and Moscow. The Soviet Union criticized Western imperialists but did not go as far as to label the opposite camp fascists.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s anti-Western tirades do not only reflect his calling and outlook. There is also an element of pragmatic calculation.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He has repeatedly claimed that Belarusians will do their outmost to stop NATO tanks rolling through Belarus to attack Moscow. NATO has not attacked, but he received generous subsidies from Russia for casting Belarus as its outpost.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Subsidies dried up several years ago after Russian officials calculated that they had paid him too much for his verbal commitment to the alliance.\n<\/p>\n

It takes two to tango<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Russia found itself almost completely isolated after its assault on Ukraine with Belarus being its only ally.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka never misses an opportunity to criticize former Soviet republics for their failure to throw their weight behind Russia.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cUnfortunately, massive pressure has forced some of our allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States to take, to put it mildly, a wait-and-see attitude,\u201d he told the would-be officers. \u201cBut at the same time, the policy of Belarus has not wavered, we maintain a dialogue with the countries that respect our opinions and our interests.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t About two months earlier, he lashed out at Belarus\u2019 CSTO partners for the lack of support for Russia and Belarus amid tension with NATO. Most leaders simply ignored his criticism, while the Kazakh president announced last month that Kazakhstan would not recognize eastern Ukrainian territories as independent states.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka has no option but to support and serve Russia. Moscow promised to reciprocate.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t It pledged $1.5 billion in import substitution subsidies and offered Belarus generous discounts on oil and gas (although the prices have not been disclosed). Putin also promised that Russia would transfer Iskander-M missile systems to Belarus in the next few months and upgrade Belarusian Su-25 ground attack aircraft.\n<\/p>\n

Minsk\u2019s hidden agenda<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka is reluctant to send Belarusian troops to Ukraine and is afraid of a real clash with NATO. He realizes that Belarus\u2019 compact special operation forces are not motivated enough and would be thrashed by Ukraine\u2019s battle-hardened units. He is aware of anti-war sentiment among Belarusians.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Belarusian leader deliberately exaggerates threats from NATO to avoid direct military involvement of Belarusian Armed Forces in Russia\u2019s operations in Ukraine. In a message that targeted the Kremlin rather than the would-be officers, he pointed out that Belarus needed to keep its troops on its soil to protect Russia from hypothetical attacks from the alliance.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He is confident that Moscow buys into it. That is why, he never cares to present any evidence to substantiate his claim that NATO generals are as reckless as to attack Russia, whose leader threatened to respond with nuclear strikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction is allowed The Belarusian ruler keeps up his verbal attacks on imaginary fascists in an effort to stir up public hostility toward the West and disguise his reluctance to send troops to fight on the Russian side in Ukraine. \u201cModern fascists of NATO countries have not disappeared, have not died. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11448","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u0141uka\u0161enka keeps selling Moscow his readiness to stop NATO tanks | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction is allowed The Belarusian ruler keeps up his verbal attacks on imaginary fascists in an effort to stir up\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11448\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u0141uka\u0161enka keeps selling Moscow his readiness to stop NATO tanks | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By 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