{"id":11510,"date":"2022-12-12T10:39:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T07:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-playing-along-to-putins-tune-on-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-playing-along-to-putins-tune-on-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11510\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka playing along to Putin&#8217;s tune on Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n <b><span>Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka reprised Moscow\u2019s anti-Ukrainian allegations on the sidelines of an economic forum in Bishkek on December 9. Observers noted that the Belarusian ruler continues to act as Vladimir Putin\u2019s mouthpiece.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka called on Kyiv to accept Moscow\u2019s conditions for peace talks.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Kremlin\u2019s advocate<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Russia\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation\u201d is definitely not going according to plan in Ukraine. Russian forces have been pushed back under heavy fire, taking heavy losses.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Military analysts say that the Kremlin is looking for a break in hostilities to regroup and reinforce its army for a new offensive. But Russian officials deny that the army is struggling.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Meanwhile, \u0141uka\u0161enka has been trying to kill two birds with one stone: he casts himself as a peace broker and does a favor to Moscow by encouraging Kyiv to sit at the negotiating table without insisting on Russian withdrawal from the occupied territory.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cAt this stage, it seems to me, Russia can reject these conditions whatsoever: pull out of Zaporizhzhe, Kherson, etc. They must not put forward such demands to the Russian Federation,\u201d he said on the sidelines of a Eurasian Economic Union summit meeting in the Kyrgyz capital.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He defended Russia\u2019s assault by claiming that the West had planned to attack Russia from Donbas, eastern Ukraine, but the Kremlin struck first.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Belarusian strongman said: \u201cI told Putin that we will publish these facts soon, how they would have started a war against Russia from Donbas after the 2020 rebellion in Belarus, if the situation was favorable and NATO troops reached the Smolensk region\u2019s border, seizing power from us. The reason would be that Russia had seized foreign territories. The war was supposed to start from there in 2021-22, but Russia was proactive.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Ironically, Putin made a similar statement the same day. \u201cProbably, we found our bearings too late, honestly speaking. Maybe we should have started earlier,&#8221; he said.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Criticism of Merkel<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Both Putin and \u0141uka\u0161enka pounced on the statement by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, published by <span>Die Zeit<\/span>, that the Minsk agreements were merely an attempt by Ukraine to buy time and \u201cbecome stronger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The leaders of Russia and Belarus claimed that the West had supplied weapons to Ukraine to prepare it for an attack, not for defense.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cIt was a small and disgusting behavior on her part,\u201d the Belarusian ruler said about Merkel, repeating the word \u201cdisgusting\u201d three times in his tirade.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He seemed to be upset by the ex-chancellor\u2019s remark, which also belittled his role in the Minsk peace process.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Moscow coddling \u0141uka\u0161enka<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t While in Bishkek, the Belarusian leader confirmed that he was planning to meet with Putin soon to discuss economic matters. The price of natural gas is expected to be high on the agenda.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t He stressed that Minsk was insisting on equal conditions for the economic entities of Belarus and Russia.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cLet gas cost $1,600, as in Europe \u2013 God forbid of course \u2013 but the price should be the same in Russia and Belarus,\u201d he said. He is perfectly aware that Russia sells natural gas at reduced prices in the domestic market and is unlikely to change that approach.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Cheap energy is a purpose of \u0141uka\u0161enka\u2019s integration games with Moscow.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Earlier, the Kremlin often used energy prices for leveraging talks on unrelated political and economic issues. For instance, Moscow cut off oil supply in early 2020 after \u0141uka\u0161enka had rejected its integration roadmaps. But is has not been using that leverage in the last two years.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Moscow has eased economic pressure despite its alleged attempts to persuade \u0141uka\u0161enka to send Belarusian troops to Ukraine. Some commentators speculated that the Kremlin might go as far as to assassinate the Belarusian strongman to make it happen.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Certainly, Moscow has enough economic power to make Minsk comply with its wishes. But instead, it has recently approved a $1.74 billion loan for an import substitution program, rescheduled debt repayment and offered Minsk a compensation for the so-called tax maneuver.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The economic support suggests that Putin values \u0141uka\u0161enka as his key ally, and is happy with his small and big services. He does not seem to insist on Belarus\u2019 deeper involvement in Russia\u2019s military campaign.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka reprised Moscow\u2019s anti-Ukrainian allegations on the sidelines of an economic forum in Bishkek on December 9. Observers noted that the Belarusian ruler continues to act as Vladimir Putin\u2019s mouthpiece. \u0141uka\u0161enka called on Kyiv to accept Moscow\u2019s conditions for peace talks. Kremlin\u2019s advocate Russia\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation\u201d is definitely not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11510","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>\u0141uka\u0161enka playing along to Putin&#039;s tune on Ukraine | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka reprised Moscow\u2019s anti-Ukrainian allegations on the sidelines of an economic forum in Bishkek on December\" \/>\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\/11510\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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