Moscow Military Journal Says Belarus ‘a Redundant Structure,’ Sparking Furor in Minsk

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 25 – A recent article in Moscow’s influential military affairs journal Voyennoye obozreniye says that Belarus has become “a redundant structure” and should cease to exist, a view perhaps shared by many in the Russian capital but one not surprisingly highly offensive in Belarus itself, even among Belarusians who want good relations with Russia.

            The Russian article, entitled “The Republic Belarus as a Redundant Structure” and written by military commentator Oleg Yegorov argues that Belarus should be evaluated as a business holding company. If it is profitable, it’s worth keeping around; if not as Belarus is not, not (topwar.ru/136081-respublika-belarus-kak-izbytochnaya-struktura.html).

            Yegorov writes that since becoming independent, the Belarusian economy has “degraded so much that only two oil processing plants and BelarusPotash are really generating a profit,” an unacceptable number for a country of ten million people. Much of this degradation, he continues, is the result of Belarusian state policy and behavior.

            And he argues that those three Belarusian firms now operating at a profit would function at an even higher level of profitability if they were within the borders of the Russian Federation and that many other currently unprofitable Belarusian enterprises would turn the corner and become profitable if Belarus simply ceased to exist and they became part of the Russian market.

            The Belarus Partisan portal in reporting this Russian story clearly balances between agreeing that the Lukashenka regime has not been good for the Belarusian economy or people and being horrified that a Russian military commentator should suggest that this justifies concluding that Belarus should be absorbed into Russia (belaruspartisan.org/politic/426195/).