{"id":11590,"date":"2023-07-14T14:54:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T11:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/never-a-russian-province-vilnius-summit-highlights-importance-of-belarus-independent-aspirations\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"never-a-russian-province-vilnius-summit-highlights-importance-of-belarus-independent-aspirations","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11590\/","title":{"rendered":"Never a Russian province: Vilnius summit highlights importance of Belarus\u2019 independent aspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n <span>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The NATO Vilnius Summit\u2019s final document and statements by officials prove that Western politicians see Belarus through the prism of Russia. They deny Belarus the power of agency to advocate for itself.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t After the summit US President Joe Biden met with Belarus\u2019 opposition leader, \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja. Although their conversation lasted no more than 10 minutes, it demonstrated that Belarus remains in Washington\u2019s spotlight.\n<\/p>\n<h2>NATO membership: topic reserved for democratic Belarus<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t Belarus did not and could not take the center stage at the summit. Russia\u2019s 2022 assault on Ukraine undermined the world order and became a major challenge. The West and NATO have responded by establishing new defense mechanisms, which were discussed at the summit. Participants talked about prospects for Ukraine\u2019s membership of NATO.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Belarus, the aggressor\u2019s only ally, also received much attention, more than at any other summit.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Two events on Belarus were held on the sidelines. The country is mentioned seven times in the final communique of the heads of state and government. Biden also mentioned Belarus in his 20-minute speech.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Speaking at the sideline events, Cichano\u016dskaja pointed out that a democratic Belarus would aspire for membership of the European Union. She suggested establishing a joint advisory group to promote cooperation between NATO and Belarus\u2019 pro-democracy forces as part of the Partnership for Peace program.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t She said that possible NATO membership will be discussed in a democratic setting when Belarus frees itself from the Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka regime. Her cautious position is based on considerable public opposition to NATO membership, as polls suggest.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Through the prism of Russian politics<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t After Russian troops marched into Ukraine in February 2022, some pro-democracy politicians declared Belarus a country under Russian occupation. They portrayed \u0141uka\u0161enka as Vladimir Putin\u2019s puppet and said that the Belarusians are victims of the occupation regime; and therefore they should not pay reparations to Ukraine after Russia\u2019s defeat.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The summit\u2019s communique and statements by foreign leaders were based on that assumption.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t NATO has urged Belarus to stop its malign activities against its neighbors, respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and abide by international law.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Wherever Belarus is mentioned, it is seen through the prism of Russian politics. NATO said that Russia uses Belarus and its infrastructure to attack Ukraine, noted close military ties between Russia and Belarus and expressed concern about Russia\u2019s plan to deploy nuclear weapons and fighters from the Wagner private military company to Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Belarus solution is seen as an integral part of the Russia solution.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The summit came days after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed concern about the soft annexation of Belarus by Russia.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Speaking at the summit, Lithuanian President Gitanas Naus\u0117da described Belarus as a province of Russia, calling for quicker responses to developments in the country.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The Latvian prime minister echoed his view.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cToday we see Belarus as the continuation of Russia,\u201d he said. \u201cBelarus has lost its sovereignty . . . Belarus is part of Russia,\u201d Kri\u0161j\u0101nis Kari\u0146\u0161 said.\n<\/p>\n<h2>Misperception<\/h2>\n<p>\n\t The view that Belarus is part of Russia simply denies that the people of Belarus could have agency and independent aspirations to advocate for themselves.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t \u201cSuch interpretation creates the misperception of Belarus in the world and deepens the isolation of our country and our people. Belarus is not Russia\u2019s province, and the Belarusian people would not let it become one,\u201d said the opposition\u2019s United Transitional Cabinet.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t Cichano\u016dskaja told <span>Radyjo Svaboda<\/span> that \u201cwithout a free Belarus there can be no secure Ukraine.\u201d In fact, Eastern and Central Europe cannot be secure without a free Belarus.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t The opposition cabinet has a point. If Belarus is seen as an inherent part of Russia\u2019s politics, the release of political prisoners takes a back seat to big geopolitics, in which there is no place for Belarusian heroic victims and other issues of concern to the Belarusians.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d The NATO Vilnius Summit\u2019s final document and statements by officials prove that Western politicians see Belarus through the prism of Russia. They deny Belarus the power of agency to advocate for itself. After the summit US President Joe Biden met with Belarus\u2019 opposition leader, \u015aviat\u0142ana Cichano\u016dskaja. Although their conversation lasted no more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11590","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>Never a Russian province: Vilnius summit highlights importance of Belarus\u2019 independent aspirations | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d The NATO Vilnius Summit\u2019s final document and statements by officials prove that Western politicians see Belarus through the prism of\" \/>\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\/11590\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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