Mr. President, with all due respect, I’m returning to the theme which you obviously, for some mysterious reason, seem to find embarrassing and wish to avoid. That is, Kyiv’s official relations with Belarus.
Mr. President, your advisors in your Presidential Office – because I understand that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has been long sidelined by the fact that it is not allowed much of a say – will no doubt have informed you that there were pseudo-parliamentary elections in Belarus last weekend on Sunday, Feb. 25.
That the voters overwhelmingly supported Aleksander Lukashenko’s line – as befits an election in a dictatorship rigged to the wishes of the despot in Minsk maintained by Moscow, who rules by terror, with more than 1,600 political prisoners.
That the voters, if we are to believe his propogandists, confirmed overwhelmingly that they are behind Lukashenko, his authoritarian rule, subservience to Moscow and, as per its dictates, his anti-Western stance.
The US and others have dismissed these as sham elections. Yet Ukraine remains silent!
Moreover – surprise, surprise, following the example of his Russian master, Vladimir Putin’s – Lukashenko has just announced that he will run for president yet again in 2025. No response from Kyiv, as if there were no interest.
And what has the Belarusian dictator been saying about Ukraine in recent days? That it should negotiate with Russia because the Kremlin supposedly wants a peaceful settlement. If not, the Ukrainian leadership will lose the entire country.
Two Kyiv Hospitals Evacuate Over Feared Russian Strikes
Earlier, Lukashenko declared, again presumably speaking on behalf of the Kremlin, that Ukraine “will, all the same, be ours” and that the Ukrainian leadership is preparing to flee the country.
On the other hand, the leaders of the Belarusian democratic opposition continue unequivocally to express their support for Ukraine.
As President-elect of Belarus, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the Belarusian democratic opposition leader, who is widely believed to have won the presidential election in her country in 2020 that was rigged by Lukashenko, told Kyiv Post last week regarding Ukraine’s struggle against Russia’s imperialistic aggression:
“For us in Belarus, it’s also a fight for our nation’s existence. It became our common fight. We’re standing up for our freedom and the freedom of Ukraine.”
It’s more than clear who is who, and who is on the side of Ukraine, and who is Russia’s stooge.
President Zelensky, how much longer will you continue to ignore the Belarusian democratic opposition and its leaders? There is no excuse (be transparent and tell us if there is one), and your continuation to do so in the circumstances is both inexplicable and unworthy.
Isn’t this the right time to use your fantastic skills as a communicator to address messages directly to the Belarusian and Russian people, over the heads of the state-controlled media?
Continually addressing Western partners is understandably a priority, but for a champion of freedom and decency, ignoring the subject peoples under Lukashenko and Putin doesn’t make any sense.
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Comments (4)
Do you think Biden is really the president? Where are your comments about that? For the West, only pro-Russian results are worth calling a "sham"
@ron,
Why yes of course!
All MRGA troll and insurrectionist falsehoods to the contrary have been fully and multiple times debunked.
Ask Fox News if its expensive in the USA to keep pushing that falsehood. They had to payout ~$800 million in fines last year for the lies putintucker spread in that regard. They subsequently fired putintucker as he became too much of a lying liability, but the economic blow remains theirs. Watch how the remaining MRGA shills at FOX specifically avoid that topic when they invite putinrump minions in to spread other falsehoods.
I wonder how much Concord / Wagner's troll factory in Lakhta, St. Petersburg district will have to pay out in damages after putin's regime falls. Will they be able to even afford paying trolls afterwards...probably not I suspect.
The world gets better ease day putin's regime draws close to its overdue end.
The future of democracy in Belarus is inextricably dependent on the success of Ukraine in its war against Russia. Historically , both countries were part of the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania at its greatest extent. However, one fight at a time. No sense giving Lukashenko an excuse to actively take up arms against Ukraine now. When Ukraine is victorious, then Belarus will achieve its freedom.
The reason for the silence is obvious. Zelensky does not want Belarus to formally declare war on Ukraine and join in the active fighting. While Lukashenko has allowed Russia to station troops in Belarus and to use his country as a launching point for the initial invasion, he has not mobilized the Belorussian army against Ukraine. Belarus has not committed its own troops to the war. And, there has been very little activity from Belarus recently. There is not an active Northern Front in the war. If Zelensky were to start making the kinds of public statements the Author envisions all of that would change. Belarus would likely become a very active participant in the war and Ukraine would have to defend it self on another front. The demands of the author are foolish.
At present I'm not actually sure what purpose this article serve's.
1. Why expect Ukraine to actively have a policy to save another nation in internal conflict, when it is fighting with all its capacity to protect its own existence?
2. Albeit Lukashenko remains a thug enabler of putin, he has not directly committed Belarusian troops to support russia's invasion of Ukraine. Thus unless provoked further, one less dictator controlled army for Ukraine to be actively fighting against.
3. Belarusians have not yet cohesively demonstrated they are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to get out from their putin stooges' oppressive control. That statement will offend some since many did try to vote and peacefully protest Lukeshenko rule. Many are in jail for that. However until they actually dethrone their putin crony themselves as did Ukraine, the growing internal movement towards democracy technically remains an internal matter. Democracies must form and exist solely at the will of a nations' people; not at the will of their neighbour.
Strategically for the Belarusian democratic movement, it is actually better they support Ukraine right now. When Ukraine prevails, putin meddling in their nation also fades. A Belarusian majority can then more easily evict Lukeshenko if they wish.
Am I missing something?