{"id":11410,"date":"2022-05-08T12:41:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-08T09:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/lukasenka-uncomfortable-under-international-isolation-claims-to-be-peaceful\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"lukasenka-uncomfortable-under-international-isolation-claims-to-be-peaceful","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11410\/","title":{"rendered":"Luka\u0161enka uncomfortable under international isolation, claims to be peaceful"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Valieryj Karbalievi\u010d<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t * Reproduction prohibited\n<\/p>\n

\n Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka toned down his usually hostile anti-Western rhetoric in his May 5 interview with AP, indicating that he might even engage in negotiations with the West. The Belarusian leader, whose re-election in 2020 was not been recognized by many governments, gives interviews to major foreign media outlets to validate his claim to legitimacy.<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

Propaganda narratives<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t During the interview, Luka\u0161enka was consistent in demonizing Ukraine and repeating narratives of Russian propaganda. He laid the blame at Kyiv\u2019s door for the Russian assault on Ukraine, cast Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky as Washington\u2019s puppet and accused unnamed British nationals of creating a stir over an alleged massacre in Bucha.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He went as far as to accuse Poland of an intention to capture western Ukraine, adding that the Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians might have to fight against the Poles. The allegation is a product of his imagination, and can hardly be taken seriously.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He insisted that the media outcry over the Bucha massacre was orchestrated by British nationals, but did not specify what group or media they represented.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe know who organized this window dressing. We controlled the process of the British, mostly the British who were in cars. We saw four cars. We gave the Russians the plate numbers of cars that arrived from Lviv that were filming in Bucha and then dumped it into the informational space.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In fact, the unidentified Britons should be given credit for letting the world know what happened.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have been aggressors there for a long time\u201d<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Luka\u0161enka admitted in the interview that Russian troops used Belarus for attacks on Ukraine. Whereas before he said that the Russians had fired only two missiles from Belarus, in the AP interview he also admitted that Russian troops entered Ukraine from Belarusian territory.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In another comment, he indicated that Belarusian troops had struck positions in Ukraine even before Russia launched its military operation.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cThe Ukrainians have built four Tochka-U missile launching sites targeted at Belarus. Lucky for us, there were still troops left there after the drills. And the Russians helped us trace and hit those four positions just 30 minutes before the start of the military operation. And part of the troops really left Belarus to the south to Ukraine.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In another remark, he said that the West should not blame him for helping Russia because the West is helping Ukraine. \u201cYou reproach me for something by calling me an aggressor together with Putin, a co-aggressor. You have been aggressors there for a long time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He used the false comparison to blur the line between assistance to the victim and assistance to the aggressor.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He sounded envious of Zelensky throughout the interview. He had treated the Ukrainian president as a young and inexperienced politician at the beginning of his political career and did not seem to believe that he could be a strong leader.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Zelensky, with an approval rating of 90 percent among Ukrainians, is perceived as a symbol of courage for leading Ukraine\u2019s brave resistance to the world\u2019s second best army. Public support for Luka\u0161enka has never neared those levels.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWest can sleep peacefully\u201d<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t Luka\u0161enka considerably escalated his anti-Western rhetoric for two years after his disputed win in the 2020 presidential election. He orchestrated a migrant crisis and staged military exercises involving Russian troops to scare the West.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Surprisingly, he used the interview as an opportunity to assure the West of his peaceful intentions:\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cWe do not threaten anyone, and we are not going to threaten and will not do it. Moreover, we can\u2019t threaten — we know who opposes us, so to unleash some kind of a conflict, some kind of war here in the West is absolutely not in the interests of the Belarusian state. So, the West can sleep peacefully.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He voiced his opposition to possible use of nuclear weapons and assured the interviewer that Belarus will not take part in the Russian special operation. \u201cWe categorically do not accept any war. We have done and are doing everything now so that there isn\u2019t a war . . . We do not intend to take part in Russia\u2019s special military operation in Ukraine.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Operation drags on, time to wriggle out<\/span> <\/h2>\n

\n\t I didn\u2019t think that this conflict would drag on this way, Luka\u0161enka said several times during the interview.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He noted that Belarus was the only country openly siding with Russia, while on the other side, as many as 50 states have united helping Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Aware of possible consequences of international isolation, he might be thinking of and looking for opportunities to wriggle out of trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Valieryj Karbalievi\u010d * Reproduction prohibited Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka toned down his usually hostile anti-Western rhetoric in his May 5 interview with AP, indicating that he might even engage in negotiations with the West. The Belarusian leader, whose re-election in 2020 was not been recognized by many governments, gives interviews to major foreign media outlets to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[24],"class_list":["post-11410","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLuka\u0161enka uncomfortable under international isolation, claims to be peaceful | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valieryj Karbalievi\u010d * Reproduction prohibited Aliaksandr Luka\u0161enka toned down his usually hostile anti-Western rhetoric in his May 5 interview with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11410\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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