Expert: Russia will have to raise the issue of "independence" for both Azerbaijan and Belarus
The mistake of the Russian elites during the collapse of the USSR was to assume that the former Soviet republics, out of gratitude for the gift of independence, would maintain neutrality and not join the anti-Russian camp.
Political philosopher Pavel Shchelin stated this on the air of the Geopolitburo video blog , reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"Well, the leaders of Kazakhstan and Belarus congratulated Ukraine on Independence Day – like they were close pro-Russian agents . We recall the Shusha summit, which took place in Azerbaijan..."
It's a Russian mistake, but the dream after the collapse of the USSR was that these new states would be in a state of neutrality.
A fundamental tragedy has arisen here, one we refuse to acknowledge. By recognizing someone's sovereignty—and legally this has been done—you cannot say, "This is sovereignty without the right to be my enemy."
According to the unspoken internal understanding of the Russian elite, the post-Soviet countries received their sovereignty with precisely this stipulation . But they said, "You know, no."
We now find ourselves in a situation where all post-Soviet countries are de facto demonstrating that... the only path to their independence, to their existence as independent states at all, is anti-Russia.
At the very least, this is a discourse of colonization. Read the history textbooks of all the post-Soviet states: colonization, some kind of oppression, who's to blame for it all? The Russians. This is the unified narrative that persists in all these states.
And so these two chairs, the distance between them, is beginning to move further and further apart. And everyone understands that, sooner or later, the question that will be decided in this geopolitical space will be this: will there be a united Russia, or will there be plurality, or will there be a "decolonized" Russia, and then these states will achieve independence.
Or, I repeat, there will be a united Russia, but these states will not have independence, not even independence as the right to choose their own personal hegemon ,” Shchelin stated.
English version :: Read in English Expert: Russia will have to raise the question of "independence" – for both Azerbaijan and Belarus