Łukašenka’s peace push ludicrous after announcement of nuclear deployment

By Valeryj Karbalevič

Alaksandr Łukašenka keeps pushing for the transformation of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) into an overly hostile anti-Western bloc. He also casts himself as a peace broker, but his initiatives are hard to reconcile with his decision to host Russian nuclear weapons and declarations of readiness to use nuclear bombs.

Belarus currently chairs the CSTO and hosts its events, including the June 8 meeting of security chiefs and the June 20 meeting of foreign ministers. The Belarusian leader seized the opportunity to impose his perception of the world on his listeners.

Anti-Western rant

Łukašenka is trying to drive home his point that the Russian and Belarusian regimes have the same interests as the other members of the CSTO. “We assume that we are in isolation like the Soviet Union,” he said.

The CSTO is an alliance of nations with diverse foreign policy interests and even representing different civilizations. Its members do not face the same or similar military and political threats.

Armenia does not have the same strategic interests as Belarus or Kyrgyzstan. As times goes by after the collapse of the Soviet Union, CSTO members’ interests diverge. There is only one thing that unites them – political loyalty to the Kremlin. While Belarus and Russia face international isolation, other members seek to keep good relations with the West.

However, Łukašenka made it crystal clear he wants the CSTO to be an uncompromising anti-Western alliance. He sees the West as evil and is nostalgic for the Soviet Union with its hostile military policy, ideology, and rejection of Western values.

All issues blamed on enemies

The Belarusian ruler admitted that the CSTO deserved criticism for not tackling specific issues. “There are issues and tasks that should be solved, however difficult they might be. But we sometimes do not want to solve them because they are too complicated.”

He cited two examples, “Kyrgyzstan has long asked for help in settling its conflict with Tajikistan; Armenia has put forward justified claims.”

His explanation why these issues must be addressed is amazing, “The danger is that if our ‘friends and advisors’ from the West get involved – you see them poking around, as people say – we will find it more difficult to solve these tasks.”

He said that the CSTO needed to devise an economic action plan because the West “will keep up pressure on us even if the conflict in Ukraine is over, they will not leave us alone.”

Łukašenka is driving home the idea that self-isolation is a boon for the former Soviet republics. “You will find nothing beyond our [post-Soviet] space borders. This is my point of view.”

He urged the CSTO members to reduce dependence on imports and establish alternative payment systems. He cited the Union State of Belarus and Russia as an example. “I think we are not far with the president of Russia from putting this plan together for two of us. Of course, we will not achieve 90-percent self-sufficiency, but at least 80 percent. There is no other way.”

Tarnished peacemaker image

Łukašenka hit back at critics of his military alliance with Putin. “Europeans reproach you, including me, that we are losing our sovereignty here,” he said, and added that the Europeans have already ceded their sovereignty to the United States.

He indicated that sovereignty does not matter because something bigger is at stake: “They blame someone for losing sovereignty. What sovereignty? There is a fierce fight, a battle on the global scale. Nobody knows how it will play out.”

He continues to cast himself as a peacemaker despite allowing Russia to position its nuclear weapons in Belarus.

“Today, voices of wisdom and reasoning power are drowned out by aggressive hysteria, in the West in the first place. They wouldn’t listen to Belarus’ initiatives for restoring trust and enhancing regional and international security.”