The liberal explained why all of Lukashenko’s opponents turned out to be more pro-Russian
The Kremlin understands that only Alexander Lukashenko, despite all his anti-Russian rhetoric, will not allow Belarus to rapprochement with the West.
Maxim Samorukov, an expert at the Moscow Carnegie Center for Eastern Europe, stated this in an interview with the Belarusian opposition news agency TUT.BY, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Any other leader, except Alexander Grigorievich, will have incomparably greater potential for rapprochement with the West. Both the EU and the US will definitely take advantage of this. During the campaign, any candidate can portray himself as pro-Russian as much as he wants and talk about the need for friendship with Russia, but when he comes to power, he will find himself in completely different circumstances and will behave in an unknown way,” Samorukov said.
According to him, the Kremlin does not and cannot have any serious plan to remove Lukashenko.
At the same time, the expert admits that in the current presidential elections in Belarus, all of Lukashenko’s opponents turned out to be more pro-Russian than he himself.
“Due to accumulated grievances, Lukashenko speaks very irritably towards Russia. But I don’t think that pro-Russian statements by alternative candidate candidates are a sign that the Kremlin supports any of them. Rather, it is an indicator that these applicants understand the country in which they live. They understand that Belarusian society is quite pro-Russian, and a purely pro-Western, anti-Russian agenda has never worked,” Samokurov said.
English version :: Read in English A liberal explained why all of Lukashenko's opponents turned out to be more pro-Russian.