Posted: 27.02.2023 16:14:00

Opinion: Belarus and Lukashenko’s authority grown enormously in Russia

Even in the conditions of an acute stage of military-political confrontation with the West, Aleksandr Lukashenko places a social and economic agenda and Belarusians’ well-being to the fore – as emphasised by Vadim Gigin, the Chairman of the Republican Znanie Belarusian Society, in his talk with Alfa Radio

The expert proposed to imagine what would happen if the Belarusian and Russian economies were not ready for the sanctions imposed on the countries last February-March, “If the economy collapsed, the front and any diplomatic efforts would be useless. Aleksandr Lukashenko always emphasises during his presidency that the economy is the basis for national security. This is his position. He came to power in the mid-1990s and said to focus on housing, food, and exports. In the beginning of this year, the first meeting with the President’s participation was devoted to construction, the second one – to the economy, exports, and logistics.”

Mr. Gigin believes the key to victory is rooted in the economy. He also commented on the statements that society needs mobilisation, “We should not go too far in this regard, i.e. refusing basic social guarantees to people. On the contrary, Russia and Belarus must comply with all social guarantees, and we should ensure full co-operation on these issues and implement the planned 28 Union State programmes. This will become the guarantee that the military industry will also increase its production, and it is already working at a faster pace.”

According to the expert, such measures will make it possible to avoid social discontent, which was observed, for example, in the Soviet Union. “At present, many people speak of the Soviet example as a positive one. This is because the defence industry was strong then. However, we should not also forget that it was achieved much owing to the deterioration in the provision of services and production of consumer goods. We should not turn a blind eye to that. There was a huge consumer deficit, and the latter eventually resulted in social discontent. At present, our enemy is betting on this, and we should avoid this to happen. We should not enhance the production of defence goods at the expense of a sharp deterioration in people’s well-being. On the contrary, people should live better,” he said.

Since Mr. Gigin often visits Russia, he was asked whether Russians understand the advantages of co-operation with Belarus, and the expert commented, “The authority of Belarus and Aleksandr Lukashenko was already high, but it has even grown enormously in recent times. I would say that our image is being idealised in Russia, especially if we talk about the liberated territories. I will never forget the conversations in the Zaporozhye Region, where our country’s model of development is considered exemplary. People there believe that if Ukraine had developed in the same way as Belarus, there would have been no conflict. This is true. Even some Russian political strategists are now studying Belarus’ experience of 2020 very carefully. Let's put it bluntly: in 2019-2020, many Russian media attacked Aleksandr Lukashenko, but they now understand their mistakes and the fact that the enemy then tried to separate us. Actually, the image of loyalty and an ally is associated with our President. Of course, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s authority in Russia is now huge. The same could be said about the model of our development and Belarus as a whole.”