Paul Goble
Staunton,
August 10 – As relations between Moscow and Minsk deteriorate, the Russian
government has moved units of Vladimir Putin’s pseudo-Cossacks into the
restricted zone on the Russian side of the Russian-Belarusian border, according
to reports from the region that have been summarized by Mikhail Ilin.
The
Belsat journalist offers not only the comments of Belarusians living in the
neighborhood who are unhappy about the appearance of these “Cossacks” but also
a video that appears to show “Cossack” units on the other side of the border as
well (belsat.eu/ru/programs/rossijskie-kazaki-sobirayutsya-ohranyat-granitsu-rossii-s-belarusyu/).
According to Ilin, a Russian
official says that such “voluntary patrols” were begun during the last several
weeks, when tensions between the two countries rose and are at least nominally
about blocking any contraband or those who have been given Belarusian but not
Russian visas from entering the Russian Federation.
Sergey Russkikh of the Khislovich district in Russia says
that these popular militia “will work with the border service but that this is
a structure of the FSB. They will check”
to ensure that Russian laws are enforced. But some Belarusians see a more
sinister role for such groups and do not welcome their appearance in the border
region.
In
the best case, this is a Russian effort to put more pressure on Alyaksandr
Lukashenka to accept Russian conditions including agrement for Moscow’s
proposed plenipotentiary-ambassador and possibly a new military base. In the
worst, of course, this could be the advance guard of something like “the little
green men” behind the invasion of Crimea.
The
border between Russia and Belarus, two member countries of the union state, has
a complicated history. Between 1995 when Minsk and Moscow signed a friendship
accord and February 2017, there was no border zone at all. Then, the FSB
restored it after Belarus allowed many foreigners to come for five days without
getting a visa.
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