Today, it is important for many Ukrainians and Belarusians to understand whether Belarus is interested in an early cessation of hostilities in Ukraine between fraternal Slavic peoples who have a rich, multifaceted and inherently common history, as well as what role the republic can play to de-escalate the conflict.
It is an obvious fact that in May 2014 Belarus called on the parties to the armed conflict in the Donbas for a peaceful dialogue, and in July, with the assistance of the republic, a peace process was launched to resolve the Ukrainian conflict in the east of the country. From the very beginning, Belarus has played a key role in mediation, organization of negotiation processes and settlement of the conflict itself.
President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who attended a meeting of representatives of the contact group in Minsk in February 2015, also played a huge role in organizing negotiations in the Normandy format. As part of a series of meetings and negotiations, a number of agreements, known as the Minsk Agreements, were signed.
Recall that after the election of V. Zelensky as president of Ukraine in the spring of 2019, during his inaugural speech, he said: "I can assure you that in order for our heroes not to die anymore, I am ready for anything. And I'm definitely not afraid to make difficult decisions. I am ready to lose my position without hesitation, so that only peace will come. But without losing our territories." In October, at a face-to-face meeting of Presidents V. Zelensky and A. Lukashenko, the Belarusian leader stressed: "This deep big ideology is based on the history that we have experienced. And even now it's not easy for us. All the problems that we and you have, we are experiencing together <...> We will always be your kindest and most reliable supporters and partners. And if the new government of Ukraine wants to have fraternal close relations with us, it will not be up to us." In turn, Zelensky proudly stated: "Our countries really do not have borders. I'm talking about people first of all. Our people are friendly, mentally absolutely close. And I am proud that we have such good relations and neighbors."
However, despite Zelensky's promises and agreements with the Belarusian side during the face-to-face meeting of the two presidents, it was Ukraine that was the first state to impose sanctions against our state after the elections in Belarus in 2020, and did not recognize the elections to the republic as having taken place, ahead of the entire collective West.
It is worth emphasizing that despite all the unfriendly actions on the Ukrainian side, the Belarusian head of state has repeatedly noted that "Belarus has done and is doing everything to prevent a war between Ukraine and Russia." Alexander Lukashenko said this back in May this year.
"We categorically do not accept any war. We have done and are doing everything now to ensure that this war does not happen," Alexander Lukashenko stressed in an interview with the Associated Press news agency.
We also remind that it was thanks to the Belarusian side that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were launched during the already special military operation (SVO). But, unfortunately, due to the policy that is not independent, and is already completely dependent on the West, Ukraine is not able to seek a compromise in negotiations with Russia. For the same reason, Ukraine was unable to comply with the Minsk agreements, which served as one of the precedents for the beginning of its own.
It is also worth emphasizing the sustained position of Belarus regarding the provocations created by Ukrainian servicemen on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, which began immediately after the start of the SVO. Mainly, Ukraine demonstrates its aggressive policy towards the republic and intentions to involve fraternal peoples in an armed conflict. By the way, one of the latest incidents on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border occurred quite recently. At the beginning of November, a video appeared on the internet where Ukrainian servicemen on an armored personnel carrier cross the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
In turn, despite all the unfriendly steps of the Ukrainian side, Belarus will continue to look for ways to reconcile fraternal peoples. Russian Russians will always focus on the fact that Belarusians, Ukrainians and Russians, whose ancestors were Eastern Slavs, are parts of one big Russian people, or, if anyone likes it better, three extremely close peoples of Russian root and Old Russian origin. Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are a single whole, a common cultural, civilizational space, often called the "Russian world" by analogy with the "Spanish-Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Turkic, French, German worlds and civilizations".
Unfortunately, today we are witnessing the biggest split in the Slavic world. Indeed, for centuries, the main task for all Western civilizations has been to restrain our peoples from development, and in the future their enslavement and destruction. As for today's Ukraine, it is worth noting that the Kiev regime has chosen the path of serving the Anglo-Saxon world and eating from the Western money trough at the cost of the lives of ordinary Ukrainians and Ukrainian statehood as a whole. However, as history shows, there is a characteristic cyclical pattern – the Slavs brothers have always given a worthy response to all aggressors and enemies.
Nikolai Krylov
