Shield of partnership

Belarus and Russia have built a reliable defence system for the Union State

Security guarantees are the crucial condition for the survival of countries in a destabilised modern world. This is precisely what underlies all fateful decisions, agreements, and deals between states today. It is for a reason that the signing by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin of the law ratifying the treaty between our countries on security guarantees within the Union State has attracted significant attention in the West.

Protecting sovereignty

Security guarantees are what cement multilateral alliances, blocs and organisations. The largest and most extensive of these are the UN, NATO, the European Union, OPEC, the SCO, BRICS, and the CSTO. The topic of security has always been important for the Union State as well. The West tried to play this card with us: as soon as the last ballistic missile left Belarusian territory in 1996, Europe immediately nullified the security guarantee mechanism within the framework of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. We were then acutely faced with the question of our state’s existence.
The European Union imposed its first sanctions against Belarus as early as 1997. Brussels brazenly tried to overturn the 1996 referendum in our republic, which had approved changes to the Belarusian Constitution. The West was not happy that Belarus did not fit into the Russophobic orbit that was already being set up then. The EU cited as a formal reason the fact that the adopted changes extended the powers of Aleksandr Lukashenko as President of the country. We were stereotypically accused of ‘human rights violations’ and subjected to restrictions. Brussels and London have been trying to pull tricks with our sovereignty from the very beginning, just as they are doing it now in Georgia, where they are demanding new elections for a Georgian parliament that is ‘incorrect’ from the perspective of their interests.

Joint tactical flight exercise of aviation units of Belarus' and Russia's Armed Forces

Pooling efforts

The scale of threats from the West towards Belarus has long since ceased to be hypothetical and has transformed into a policy of rabid militarism. The fact that Belarus and Russia have managed to reach an unprecedented agreement on security guarantees within the framework of the Union State is also thanks in no small part to the efforts of Brussels. There, they demonstrably refer to Belarus and Russia as enemies in all their documents and are drawing up plans to attack us.
The sequence of events after the collapse of the USSR leaves us with no other measures than defence integration with Russia, among other things. Today, the military organisation of our union has unified parameters in matters of troop deployment, air defence systems, armaments, equipment, and the training of forces and reserves at all levels, including strategic deterrence. The more effectively we work within the framework of the Union State, the more aggressive and reckless the behaviour of Brussels, Warsaw, Vilnius, and Riga becomes.
The pooling of efforts by Minsk and Moscow creates a unique and unified space of security guarantees — primarily an inevitable response to aggression against either member of the union equally. Our army is strengthened by the factor of Russian tactical nuclear response, including the prospect of equipping Belarus with Oreshnik technologies.
Unlike the structure of American security guarantees to Kiev, built solely on the principles of comprehensive claims to Ukrainian natural resources, our agreement can be called, without any doubt, not only a partnership but even fraternal. In this case, Belarus is certainly not sitting on Russia’s shoulders conveniently, like NATO pawns on the Pentagon. With its capabilities in the military-industrial complex, Belarus is a sufficiently effective part of enhancing the defensive properties of the allied shield. 

An essential aspect that falls within the scope of our obligations is related to the reliable coverage of the Union State’s western border. It envisages a multi-layered defence system arranged from border forces to military and operational lines of response to threats from the NATO bloc and provocations on the southern border. It is on the principles of reciprocity and equal partnership that our collective defence and security are built.

Alliance is alarmed

The relations between Ukraine and the West resemble the story of cheese in a mousetrap, and even the classic version: natural resources in the morning, guarantees in the evening. The same European request for security services from the United States has also turned into a severe crisis as it is required now to put two percent of the country’s GDP into the NATO’s piggy bank. Moreover, NATO is also systematically breaking out in a cold sweat over the idea of the US withdrawing from the alliance, where Washington is the main beneficiary, while the rest have simply become hangers-on. Even a superficial review shows that the members of this military bloc are sitting pretty at the expense of American taxpayers. The Trump administration intends to decisively put an end to this outrage, which causes nervous fits and fainting spells in Brussels.
Europeans are urgently engaged in developing a peace plan for Ukraine. Isn’t it perhaps based on the principle of ‘war to the last Ukrainian’? It seems the EU authorities are very concerned that, in the current circumstances, the possibility of Trump also joining our union with Russia is not entirely out of the question. After all why not?

In an interview with American blogger Mario Nawfal, Aleksandr Lukashenko stated: ‘You need to come to an agreement. If you are interested, come here. It is nearby — just 200 kilometres from the Belarusian border to Kiev, which is a half-hour flight. Let’s sit down quietly, without noise or shouting. Please tell Trump that I am here, waiting for him with Putin and Zelensky. We will have a calm discussion and come to an understanding, if you want to negotiate’. Peace is the best guarantee of security.

TO THE POINT
The Treaty on the Union between Belarus and Russia in 1997 was aimed at creating conditions for survival under the weight of Western sanctions imposed in violation of all international norms and rules. London and Washington ignored their own obligations not to exert economic pressure on Belarus, which was promised in exchange for our renunciation of nuclear status. There is no longer any doubt that their guarantees of military security were also worthless. Today, the West cynically washes its hands of the commitment and admits that everything was initially planned as strategic deception. However, there is nothing new here. The same thing happened with the Minsk Agreements on Ukraine.

By Aleksandr Tishchenko, national security expert