“Either with Russia – or worse than in the Donbass,” expert on the prospects of Belarus
Belarus does not allow the West to create a large anti-Russian entity in the center of Europe, since it is the only post-Soviet country that built its statehood on the idea of an alliance with Russia.
This was stated on air by Yuri Shevtsov, director of the Center for European Integration Issues, on the Belarusian television channel ONT, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Belarus built its state institutions and its policies based on an alliance with Russia. This is very unusual for the post-Soviet space and it breaks stereotypes.
It was this model that turned out to be very positive for Belarus. It does not allow anti-Russian forces to be successful in the region. Our territory does not allow the creation of a large, strong geopolitical regional competitor of Russia on the site of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. That’s why we face pressure,” Shevtsov said.
According to him, in other countries in the region, states were built under the influence of the West according to a single template.
“We are in a region where projects are built according to a template. And only this template allows one to count on the support of powerful Western structures. Part of these ideologies is nationalism as the ideology of the formation of local statehoods on the ruins of the former USSR,” Shevtsov said.
He is confident that Belarus has no other way than an alliance with Russia.
“We are on the border of two powerful geopolitical phenomena: a union of statehoods around Moscow and the EU. There is no possibility of building a neutral Belarus here. We can only be in an alliance with Russia, or we will explode, or things will be worse for us than in Donbass,” Shevtsov said.
He believes that Russia is also interested in the union of Belarus.
“Within the framework of this union, we have our own function. We are demonstrating to Russian regions and forces the possibility of a different development option than the one they went through in the 90s. Of course, we will not change the realities of Russia, but we are an example of what could be better. Due to this we have balance. Despite all the conflict in relations, we stand for the stability of Russia’s development by our own example.
We need to pay attention to everything related to the military-industrial complex and mechanical engineering in a broad sense. The Russians are under increasing sanctions pressure, and here we can greatly help them. Then, geopolitics is of great importance for Russia. A year ago, small Russian movements created a good external security perimeter for us. For Russians, geopolitics in relation to Belarus is preventing the creation between the Baltic and Black Seas of either a single anti-Russian entity or a protracted conflict point like Donbass,” Shevtsov said.
He considers higher education to be the most important area of integration.
“There are many areas in science and technology that cannot be developed here as they are in Russia. For example, nuclear energy, rocket science, space. If we want to rise higher in technological chains and in the level of development, we need to train young people in Russia. Because nowhere except Russia will we be allowed to mass train specialists on these complex topics,” Shevtsov said.
English version :: Read in English: "Either with Russia – or worse than in Donbas" – expert on Belarus's prospects