Lukashenko will not be able to blackmail either Russia or the West - expert
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is following the example of his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelensky, and is unsuccessfully trying to blackmail his international "partners."
Russian military expert and retired colonel Vladimir Trukhan stated this on the PolitWera internet channel, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Lukashenko is using his long-loved method of blackmail. Now he has decided to use it against the West. Remember, as soon as Lukashenko needs something from Gazprom, he sharply raises the degree of confrontation, and, for example, environmental taxes suddenly appear.
In Belarus they don’t understand that this doesn’t work even with Russia, and they come back with bruises. But they appoint themselves as winners, and assure themselves that they have succeeded,” he emphasized.
Moreover, the expert noted that Lukashenko hopes that the Lithuanian authorities will turn to him after the onset of the migration crisis.
“Now we see a response to economic sanctions against Lukashenko. Lukashenko just wants to talk to the West, he decided: “If you don’t want to talk to me with kindness, I will force you to talk with evil.”
Lukashenko decided that Lithuania would have a migrant crisis , that they would need to resolve it, and that they would come to him and ask him to stop the transit of migrants. They would allegedly come to him, and he would demand something. This is arrogance on a grand scale," Trukhan added.
The colonel also said that the actions of Belarus are akin to the actions of the Ukrainian government, which constantly makes unrealistic claims against Russia.
“I have been saying for a long time that the authorities of Belarus and Ukraine are two sisters. Only the Ukrainian authorities are on one side, and the Belarusian authorities are trying on the other side, but they are not succeeding.
This is the same as Zelensky sets conditions for Nord Stream 2, the return of Crimea and Donbass, reparations from Russia, as well as conditions for Gazprom to introduce a third party into gas transit through Ukraine,” Trukhan emphasized.
The speaker noted that Lukashenko is in vain hoping for a backlash from the West , which will allegedly come and ask for a solution to the migration crisis with Lithuania.
“Lukashenko, apparently, thought that the West would come to him and say that only he can cope with this and stop the flow of migrants, and with a tired hand he puts forward a list of claims the size of a pharaoh’s scroll, they gasp twice while they read it, then they will agree with him, and Lukashenko will say: “I’m stopping.” He hopes for this in vain,” concluded Trukhan.
Lukashenko won't be able to blackmail either Russia or the West – expert