Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 5 – Few people
have done more to unite and mobilize the Ukrainian nation than Vladimir Putin over
the past 18 months. Now it appears the Kremlin leader has embarked on a similar
unintended effort in Belarus where his plans to force Alyaksandr Lukashenka to
agree to a Russian base have begun a rallying cry for the Belarusian
opposition.
Yesterday, some 400 to 500 people
assembled in Mensk – the figures are from the Russian TASS news agency (tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/2317288)
and so unlikely to be an exaggeration to protest against Putin’s plans and
Lukashenka’s apparent agreement to establish a Russian air base on Belarusian
territory.
The hour-long meeting was peaceful,
and no one was arrested, although several of the leaders were presented with
protocols and police indicated that a court would take up the issue of their
actions at a future session (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=561214574D2D2).
But what was
most striking is the way in which speakers linked foreign and domestic
policies.
Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, one of the organizers
of the meeting, used the occasion to announce the formation of a movement “For
the Independence and Statehood of Belarus. He said that if it weren’t for the
example of Ukraine and the Donbas, one could say put bases where you like.
There are many foreign bases in the world.”
“But in Crimea, there was a military
base from which they seized part of the territory of Ukraine. If that was the
case there, then why should it not happen here?” he asked. Nyaklayew added that “we came to the square
in order to say ‘no’ to the violation of the constitution … We do not intend to
fight with anyone, and if we allow military bases, we will lose our neutrality.”
Nikolai Statkevich, another
Belarusian opposition figure, also spoke to the crowd. He said that it is clear
that “this military airbase is directed against Kyiv. We however do not want
that from our land will come a danger for the fraternal Ukrainian people, even
if it comes also from our neighboring fraternal people. We don’t need this.”
“The dictatorship is pushing us
toward a global war and making us a target” so that Lukashenka can “sit in his
chair for another year or two.” To achieve that, Statkevich said, risks making
us “a possible victim even of nuclear strikes. Lukashenka is war,” he concluded
(belaruspartisan.org/politic/319731/).
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