{"id":11497,"date":"2022-11-15T12:33:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T09:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/longreads\/russias-setbacks-in-ukraine-upset-belarusian-regime\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"russias-setbacks-in-ukraine-upset-belarusian-regime","status":"publish","type":"longreads","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/longreads\/11497\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s setbacks in Ukraine upset Belarusian regime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d, BPN<\/b><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n The news of liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian forces will demoralize the Russian political class and upset Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka. But he will persist in his anti-Western policy. He has been building a mobilization economy and has stepped up pressure on Western businesses.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

More officials come to realize that \u0141uka\u0161enka backs the loser<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Kherson liberation, a major success for the Ukrainian army after the retreat of Russian forces from the Kharkiv region, has received no coverage in the Belarusian state media.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Russian troops\u2019 retreat to the left bank of the Dnipro suggests that Russia has given up on any plans to take Odessa and is going to dig in to defend the positions it controls.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Kherson was Ukraine\u2019s only regional capital captured by Russians since the start of the war on February 24. It was a major success that has now turned into failure. Its recapture will boost the Ukrainians\u2019 moral.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Russian troops retreated six weeks after Moscow had moved to draft at least 300,000 reservists to in a bid to reverse setbacks. The draft met with public discontent and prompted many draft-age Russians to flee. But it failed to translate into a battlefield success.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Russian troops left Kherson shortly after Moscow conducted sham referenda and rewrote the Constitution to annex Ukraine\u2019s four regions to Russia.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The defeat is likely to demoralize at least part of the Russian political class and the public, especially after propaganda raised the bar of expectations too high.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t It is a setback for the Belarusian authorities as well. Not surprisingly, the state-run media and officials avoid discussing Kherson. Many officials have come to realize that \u0141uka\u0161enka has backed the wrong horse.\n<\/p>\n

\u0141uka\u0161enka vows to nationalize foreign-owned companies<\/h2>\n

\n\t The Belarusian leader keeps silent on Kherson. Instead, he stepped up his rhetorical attacks on foreign businesses. On November 11, he said that foreign-owned companies would be nationalized if their owners tried to dispose of their Belarus businesses.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cOne company, I do not want to name it, but I receive signals that those Finns have run away,\u201d he told officials during a visit to the Ta\u0142a\u010dyn district, as quoted by his press office.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u201cMeanwhile, Lithuanians are running around, looking for a good buyer for their company instead of just leaving it behind,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\t \u201cThey need to know that no one will sell anything with foreign capital. All of it will be nationalized,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka has always been suspicious of private businesses, especially foreign-owned ones. His government has recently raised taxes for small businesses.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t The Belarusian ruler was outraged by Western sanctions and IT companies\u2019 withdrawal from Belarus.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t His government responded with countersanctions and barred foreign shareholders from disposing of their shares in Belarusian companies.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \u0141uka\u0161enka uses the limited tools that are available to him. He used migrants to create instability at the European Union border, and attempted to block transits of European goods via Belarus and halt the outflow of Western capital.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t His security services arrested managers and employees of Western companies in connection with protests against fraud in 2020 presidential election and on other charges. Some are still held in prisons. The prominent prisoners include Priorbank CEO Siarhiej Kasciu\u010denka. Priorbank is a subsidiary of Austria\u2019s Raiffeisen Bank.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Foreign companies face the dilemma: to continue operation in Belarus despite restrictions on ownership rights and human rights abuses, or be nationalized.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Two years ago, the government promised to create a favorable business environment. It unveiled a program and appointed those responsible for its implementation. It has abandoned the effort. Minsk has declared the West its political, economic and ideological enemy.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t On November 11, KSB Victory Restaurants, Belarus\u2019 franchisee, announced that the Russian fast food chain Vkusno i Tochka (Delicious, Full Stop) will replace McDonald’s in Belarus in the coming weeks.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t Belarus is scrambling firmly into the Russian sphere of influence and has become entangled in Moscow\u2019s standoff with the West. Given Russia\u2019s failures, its deeper involvement makes no sense at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d, BPN The news of liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian forces will demoralize the Russian political class and upset Alaksandr \u0141uka\u0161enka. But he will persist in his anti-Western policy. He has been building a mobilization economy and has stepped up pressure on Western businesses. More officials come to realize that \u0141uka\u0161enka backs the loser […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[22],"class_list":["post-11497","longreads","type-longreads","status-publish","hentry","rubric-theviewer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRussia\u2019s setbacks in Ukraine upset Belarusian regime | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Valeryj Karbalevi\u010d, BPN The news of liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian forces will demoralize the Russian political class and upset Alaksandr\" \/>\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\/11497\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russia\u2019s setbacks in Ukraine upset Belarusian regime | Pozirk\" \/>\n<meta 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