{"id":11461,"date":"2022-08-16T19:35:55","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T16:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/divergent-systems-at-core-of-minsks-hostility-with-neighbors\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"divergent-systems-at-core-of-minsks-hostility-with-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11461\/","title":{"rendered":"Divergent systems at core of Minsk\u2019s hostility with neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

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

\n Belarusian officials and the government-controlled disinformation and propaganda ecosystem have been persistently injecting false claims into the information environment to demonize neighbors and disguise the root causes of tension.<\/span><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

Claim 1: Lithuanians seized Belarusian assets<\/h2>\n

\n\t Minsk has been angered by Lithuania\u2019s move to suspend Belarusian potash transit via the port of Klaipeda over human rights abuses and Belarus\u2019 role in Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine. Belarusian officials and state-controlled media have launched a campaign to demonize the neighboring country.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Belarusian ruler on August 11 accused Lithuanians of confiscating Belarusian assets in Klaipeda, in an apparent reference to Bie\u0142aruskali\u2019s 30-percent stake in the port\u2019s bulk cargo terminal.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Prime Minister Raman Ha\u0142o\u016d\u010danka, at the same meeting, echoed his claim that Lithuanians \u201ctook over\u201d the terminal. Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka told the premier to consider a response.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t “This should not go unpunished,” \u0141uka\u0161enka was quoted as saying by his press office. “Think it all over and report to me what measures we can and will take in the short- and mid-term. No one is allowed to take away the property. . . It’s a lot of money after all.”\n<\/p>\n

\n\t A few days later, the prime minister admitted in a televised interview that no formal decisions had been taken to confiscate Belarusian assets in Lithuania or elsewhere in the European Union.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t However, state television viewers who missed that program must still be thinking that Lithuania has seized some assets from Belarus.\n<\/p>\n

Claim 2: Ukrainians \u201cstarted thumping us at the behest of Americans\u201d<\/h2>\n

\n\t On August 2, \u0141uka\u0161enka directed his anger at Ukraine. \u201cHow could you declare an economic war on us despite our position at the time, before the war?\u201d he questioned at a meeting with journalists authorized to cover events involving him. \u201cWe pursued a friendly and peaceful policy. We supported Ukrainians wherever we could. They imposed economic sanctions on us and closed the sky, etc. And started thumping us at the behest of Americans.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In 2021, Kyiv aligned itself with Western countries\u2019 decision to shut the airspace for aircraft from Belarus after Belarusian authorities had forced a Ryanair flight to land in Minsk and arrested opposition journalist Raman Pratasievi\u010d. The response was prompted by flight safety concerns.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In general, Ukraine had maintained pragmatic relations with Minsk before Russian tanks rolled in from Belarus on February 24. It had stopped short of aligning itself with Western economic sanctions against the \u0141uka\u0161enka regime.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t In 2021, Belarusian sales in Ukraine rose by 71.9 percent to nearly $7 billion. Belarus had a considerable surplus in trade. Ukraine was its second-largest market after Russia. Definitely, the \u201ceconomic war\u201d claim is a lie.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Russian assault on Ukraine has disrupted economic ties between Belarus and Ukraine. However, Belarusian officials are reluctant to claim responsibility for it.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t One of the false narratives often used by officials and disinformation outlets is that Ukraine allegedly supplies weapons and trains militants for overthrowing the government in Belarus.\n<\/p>\n

Claim 3: Poland seeks to absorb Belarus<\/h2>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka has persistently accused Poland of making plans to occupy Belarus.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cThey are ready to snatch a part of Ukraine and absorb Belarus completely,\u201d he told executives at a factory in Miory, Viciebsk region.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He has never presented any evidence to prove it. Obviously, Poland has tightened security at the shared border in the face of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Reports have been coming in in the last few weeks that Belarusian authorities bulldozed graves of Armia Krajowa soldiers. Armia Krajowa was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The destruction of Polish graves exposes the rancor and amorality of Belarusian officialdom.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Minsk was guided by the same motives when it engineered a migrant crisis at the Belarusian-EU border in 2021.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t More recently, border authorities in neighboring countries have expressed concern about a spike in new attempts by migrants to cross the border from Belarus into the European Union illegally.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian officials accused Belarusian border guards of directing, helping and pushing migrants across the border, denouncing Minsk\u2019s hybrid attacks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Brinkmanship is a trademark policy of the Belarusian authorities toward neighbors.\n<\/p>\n

Friendship fraught with incorporation<\/h2>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka has often been a source of hostility with neighbors Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine during his 28 years in office. The root cause of tension has been the divergent political systems. His authoritarian regime, which abuses human rights and rolls back freedoms, cannot simply find any common ground with democracies.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Belarus has had a rocky relationship with Russia, marred by economic disputes and pointed exchanges.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Belarusian leader must be worried now about the mess he got into with Vladimir Putin. His complicity in Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine fuels his anxiety and fears for his own future.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t He is too dependent on Moscow to raise any objections. He cannot help but reiterate his support for the Kremlin\u2019s policy.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The superficial harmony in Minsk\u2019s relations with Russia is false and dangerous. The friendship between the two strongmen is fraught with Belarus\u2019 incorporation into Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction prohibited Belarusian officials and the government-controlled disinformation and propaganda ecosystem have been persistently injecting false claims into the information environment to demonize neighbors and disguise the root causes of tension. Claim 1: Lithuanians seized Belarusian assets Minsk has been angered by Lithuania\u2019s move to suspend Belarusian potash transit via […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11461","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDivergent systems at core of Minsk\u2019s hostility with neighbors | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Alaksandr K\u0142asko\u016dski, BPN * Reproduction prohibited Belarusian officials and the government-controlled disinformation and propaganda ecosystem have\" \/>\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\/11461\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Divergent 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