In Belarus, the Russian Federation creates a precedent for cupping at the beginning of the “color revolution”
Moscow has learned lessons from the Ukrainian Maidan and today, in a similar situation in the Belarusian direction, it acts much more effectively.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports that Maxim Artemyev, a candidate of psychological sciences and historian, writes about this in the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper.
He calls the events of 2014 in Ukraine a “gepolitical defeat” and a “hard lesson” for the Russian authorities.
“Moscow then showed that it was not ready for active diplomacy and proactive work. The current crisis in Belarus demonstrates that certain lessons have been learned, and today the Kremlin is ready to use both “soft power” and provide multilateral assistance to its client, without losing the initiative, but at the same time acting under the radar,” Artemyev believes.
He points out that flirting with nationalism and anti-Russian rhetoric did not help the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko gain the support of the pro-Western public, after which he had to call Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Moscow paused. For a long time, Vladimir Putin generally avoided making any statements about the situation in Belarus. But, as it now becomes clear, operational measures were taken immediately. The sharp change in Lukashenko’s PR policy should be associated precisely with Russian assistance and participation,” the expert writes.
According to him, Russian assistance consists not only in finding successful PR moves for the President of Belarus, but also offers a promising program for the future - readiness for change, constitutional reform and even re-elections.
At the same time, the author does not rule out that if Lukashenko strengthens his position, he will again begin to drift away from Russia.
“The Kremlin, of course, has no illusions on this score. They are solving their current problems - preventing the “loss” of Belarus, similar to the “loss” of Ukraine in 2014, when they had to compensate for political failure by forceful actions with dire diplomatic consequences. It is also important to create a precedent for stopping the color revolution in the bud - something that has never been possible before,” Artemyev concluded.
In Belarus, Russia is setting a precedent for nipping a "color revolution" in the bud.