{"id":136606,"date":"2025-05-03T19:22:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T16:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/136606\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T13:35:32","slug":"lukasenka-putin-use-victory-shield-to-justify-aggressive-policies","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/136606\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka, Putin use victory shield to justify aggressive policies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minsk and Moscow have distorted World War II history to discredit the West and present Russia in a favorable light.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n \u0141uka\u0161enka speaking at the Volgograd forum.\n <\/div>\n \n
\n (BelTA's video\/Pozirk's still)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

European neighbors\u2019 fear of attack framed as aggression<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirst off, we must be proud of this memory. They [the collective West] envy us,\u201d Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka said on April 29 in Russia\u2019s Volgograd, explaining the fervor in Minsk and Moscow surrounding upcoming celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany\u2019s defeat in World War II. \u201cWe are faced off against the descendants of the defeated Third Reich supporters,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not the first time he equated Nazi Germany with the Western allies of the anti-Hitler coalition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Belarusian ruler emphasized the importance of cherishing \u201cthe historic memory and truth about those events\u201d as he warned of a looming new world war. \u201cWar is already under way for the minds of our people . . . A modern hot war is impossible without this preparation. Preparation has begun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European politicians have grown concerned that the United States may no longer stand by its NATO commitments. In response, several have increased defense spending, fearing that Russia could attack an EU country\u2014particularly if Moscow reaches a favorable deal on Ukraine with US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moscow and Minsk routinely accuse neighboring EU countries of harboring aggressive intentions. Meanwhile, Trump has criticized European nations for underfunding defense and relying too heavily on the United States. Many EU member states spend less than the 2 percent of GDP required under the North Atlantic Treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russia, by contrast, is expected to raise its defense spending from 6 percent of GDP in 2024 to 7.5 percent in 2025, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More significantly, Russia has already invaded Ukraine. At the patriotic forum of the Union State in Volgograd, officials from both the aggressor and co-aggressor nations vocally denounced what they called Western militarism, in an apparent attempt to conceal their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historical revisionism<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Great Victory is sacred. The truth about the Great Patriotic War is our shield. It is a great honor and responsibility to hold it in our hands,\u201d \u0141uka\u0161enka told participants at the Volgograd gathering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other speakers pledged to defend the historical truth of that war and oppose any efforts to rewrite it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet both Belarus and Russia engage in historical revisionism. When facts do not align with Kremlin interests, officials and pro-Kremlin voices manipulate history to cast Russia in a better light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, to downplay and justify Josef Stalin\u2019s alliance with Adolf Hitler, Russian narratives have reframed the start of World War II, minimizing Soviet responsibility and shifting blame to other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is worth noting that \u201cthe Great Patriotic War\u201d is a Soviet and later Russian and Belarusian term that excludes the first two years of World War II, during which the USSR collaborated with Nazi Germany.
\u0141uka\u0161enka falsely claimed, \u201cLet\u2019s be honest. The allies joined after our soldier had already broken the backbone of the fascist beast.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, just days after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The USSR subsequently invaded Finland in November 1939 and annexed the three Baltic states and parts of Romania in 1940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka and Russian President Vladimir Putin referenced the Soviet defense of the Brest Fortress in 1941. However, two years earlier, the city of Brest hosted a joint Soviet-Nazi military parade\u2014an event that remained unknown to most Belarusians until perestroika and the early years of independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka has criticized that period of openness: \u201cThe outlook of children of perestroika was shaped during the peak of revanchist propaganda. Much was done to discredit the Red Army, the partisan movement and the resistance movement in our land and whitewash Nazi criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, partisan groups pursued differing objectives, and the Red Army suffered devastating losses early in the war due to Stalin\u2019s repressive and erratic strategies\u2014traits \u0141uka\u0161enka often praises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who is against two dictators us is a fascist<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A persistent false narrative promoted by both regimes is that all political opponents are fascists. \u0141uka\u0161enka has used this rhetoric to smear the thousands of Belarusians who protested his rule in 2020.
His government officially declared the white-red-white flag\u2014a key symbol of the protests\u2014as a fascist emblem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both dictators invoke the \u201cvictory shield\u201d to justify authoritarian rule and aggressive policies, arguing that the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany entitles them to suppress dissent and accuse others of extremism.
Putin claims the invasion of Ukraine is an effort to \u201cdenazify\u201d the country. \u0141uka\u0161enka, in turn, asserts that the \u201cdescendants of Nazis\u201d in the West should thank him rather than impose sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka explains away his apprehension of ribbon of Saint George<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Volgograd, \u0141uka\u0161enka again insisted that Belarus and Russia are \u201cone Fatherland . . . from Brest to Vladivostok.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He assured Putin that he had not banned Belarusians from wearing the ribbon of Saint George\u2014a Russian military symbol widely associated with nationalism and irredentism\u2014on Victory Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four days later, at a meeting in Minsk with Igor Babushkin, governor of Russia\u2019s Astrakhan province, \u0141uka\u0161enka reiterated his stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to wear the ribbon [of Saint George], please [go ahead]. If you want to wear, you know, our ribbons [an apple tree flower with a red-green ribbon], please [go ahead]. Am I right? We are friends, we don\u2019t wear swastika, like people in Ukraine do,\u201d he said. The \u201cswastika\u201d claim is a common and unfounded propaganda accusation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He compared Belarus\u2019 official \u201cBelarus Remembers\u201d processions to Russia\u2019s \u201cImmortal Regiment,\u201d asserting that both involve carrying portraits of war victims. \u201cSome carry [the images of dead soldiers] and some not. This is their business.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka was defending Belarusian restrictions on Russian patriotic symbols and processions\u2014restrictions that emerged after Russia\u2019s 2014 annexation of Crimea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fearing Russian encroachment, Belarusian authorities cracked down on pro-Russian activity at the time.
In 2016, the government introduced the apple tree flower badge and Belarus Remembers processions to counter Moscow\u2019s efforts to monopolize the Soviet victory narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials discouraged the use of Russian symbols associated with the Donbas conflict. In 2018, an Immortal Regiment march was approved only a day before Victory Day, with its route reduced to just a few dozen meters. State media ignored it, and city officials refused to register the organizing group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Brest Fortress in 2018, \u0141uka\u0161enka accused Russia of trying to privatize the Soviet victory. \u201cAs if others\u2014Belarusians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, Tajiks and Turkmens\u2014did not fight in the war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year later, he voiced opposition to replacing Belarus Remembers with the Immortal Regiment. He made it clear that Putin had raised the issue, but he battled away his suggestion, accusing Russia of copying Belarus\u2019 initiative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Volgograd on April 29, \u0141uka\u0161enka told Putin the ribbon of Saint George had a \u201ccontroversial history.\u201d
\u201cI recommend that you ask historians for complete information on the ribbon of Saint George,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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