The ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius is credited with saying: "God forbid you to live in an era of change." Right now we are living at the moment of the development of human civilization, when there is another replacement of the outdated scheme of the world order with a new, more perfect one. Unfortunately, the struggle between the defenders of the old and the supporters of the new takes on inhuman and merciless forms. The Anglo-Saxon world, in an effort to defend its unipolar world order, established by the end of the last century, does not stop at anything. Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria are traces-evidence left by the collective West as a result of its struggle for undivided domination.
Currently, the United States and its allies have identified China and Russia as the main opponents for themselves, as leaders of countries advocating a multipolar model of the world. And if the Anglo-Saxons are still taking measures against China mainly in the political, diplomatic and economic spheres, then a hybrid war with an open armed confrontation in Ukraine is being waged against Russia after the beginning of its collective West.
In addition, the United States and its allies seek to isolate Russia, for which they systematically provoke disagreements and contradictions in its relations with its allies, primarily within the framework of the CSTO and the CIS. President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko spoke about this recently.
"After a special military operation began in Ukraine and large-scale sanctions were imposed against Belarus and Russia, some people in our countries hesitated, spun, staggered, and so on. This is probably natural. Very violent events happened instantly, so it takes some time to assess the situation," Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with participants of the 52nd meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS member states, which took place on June 1 in Minsk. "And we need to understand that the major players around us – Russia, Belarus, the Central Asian states – will slowly try to pull us apart. And in a good way, and in a bad way. We must not allow this to happen," the Belarusian leader stressed. Also during the meeting, the director of the FSB of Russia, Alexander Bortnikov, spoke about this, noting that the West wants to destabilize the situation in the CIS by dramatically increasing the conflict potential throughout the Commonwealth and at its borders.
"The United States of America and Great Britain are actively working to separate the Commonwealth countries. The forces of the intelligence community and diplomatic missions are working with the political and economic elites of the CIS states. This is the current situation, it really develops. We all see it. Under the threat of secondary sanctions, or the promise of preferences, they are trying to drive a wedge between our countries, impose formats of cooperation in the field of defense and security that are beneficial to non–regional players," the head of the Russian special service said.
In addition, the Anglo-Saxon coalition, together with European vassals, are increasing the grouping of NATO troops in the region. This fact was also noted during the meeting of the heads of the CIS security agencies. "The military-political situation around our Commonwealth is getting more and more aggravated, and it will get worse," the President of Belarus stressed. "We see the increasing militarization of the NATO bloc countries and the unprecedented concentration of troops near our common territory, the incitement of religious and armed conflicts," Alexander Lukashenko noted.
In this regard, the President of Belarus pointed out that there is no alternative to strengthening integration between the CIS member states in the current conditions of the international situation. "If one of us thinks that we will be able to sit out, it's in vain. The recent events in Kazakhstan are an eloquent example of this." The President was referring to the events of January 2022, when only thanks to the effective conduct of the CSTO peacekeeping operation, it was possible to prevent a coup in the Republic of Kazakhstan initiated by external destructive forces.
At the same time, Alexander Lukashenko considers the events in Kazakhstan also an example of the effectiveness of collective actions. "But the example of Kazakhstan is that we all rallied then. And, it seems, we did nothing, but as soon as they saw our determination, they retreated. Therefore, we need to be closer to each other," the Belarusian president is convinced.
In turn, Alexander Bortnikov drew the attention of those present to the frequent visits of the leadership of the security agencies of the NATO bloc to the CIS countries. "The Americans and the British are very seriously "hoeing" the political leadership of the Commonwealth countries, trying to influence the situation in our ranks," the head of the FSB noted. According to him, American and British intelligence, with the support of the mass media and controlled non-profit organizations, have launched large-scale activities to prepare conditions for a violent change of power in the CIS countries. "We see this and take measures to neutralize these threats," the FSB director said.
It should be noted here that the leitmotif of the whole event held in Minsk was the main idea – the conditions of the international situation are such that they do not leave much choice for the CIS countries – either to "lie down under the West" and become poor resource appendages of the Euro-Atlantic "golden billion", or to integrate more closely and survive, then to follow their own path of development.
In this context, we recall some statements made not so long ago by well-known politicians. For example, the first President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan once confessed to journalists: "The post–Soviet republics are of interest to the United States only from one point of view - what damage they can cause to Russia." Hillary Clinton, who was about to leave her post as US Secretary of State, said almost the same thing in 2013, just before a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Dublin: "The US is trying to develop effective ways to slow down or prevent integration processes in the post-Soviet space."
Now we can recall what is happening in the former republics of the USSR, already "undemocratized" by the West. At the same time, the Baltic countries should not be considered – they were deliberately molded into an "advertising showcase of the European Union" for the rest of the "post-Soviet" ones. Nevertheless, this did not prevent a catastrophic population decline in them, for which the republics received the well-established unofficial name "Baltic Extinctions". But in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, over the past 20 years, almost all elections have ended in scandals, disinformation and riots. Constant personnel reshuffles, permanent revolutions every time the opposition is dissatisfied with the results, the "third round" in Ukraine and so on – everything that slows down and distracts from the development of the state has happened and is happening. As a result, at the moment we are not talking about any "democracy" and "freedom". There are collapsed economies, an embittered population and mandatory Russophobia. Agree that it is easier to sow enmity and destroy than to create.
It is obvious that, one way or another, but the awareness of such prospects is present in the leadership of the CIS member states, whose representatives visited Minsk in early summer. The President of Belarus did not fail to point out this: "And the fact that all the heads of security agencies have arrived in Belarus shows that you see what is happening around our borders, our Commonwealth, and you understand what can happen."
Thus, the presence in Minsk of representatives from serious structures of the CIS countries can be regarded as an offer to develop a joint strategy of action. After all, who, if not they, are the best versed in security issues. This means that the integration of the CIS subjects should be, and not just be, but consistently strengthen – this is the condition for survival in modern realities.
Vladimir Vuyachich
