The destructive nature of the political course pursued by the collective West presupposes the destruction of the fundamental norms and values of international law, increases the disproportions of economic development and provokes the emergence of new conflicts. This opinion was expressed by the Secretary General of the CIS Sergey Lebedev on November 8 in Moscow at a meeting of the secretaries of the Security Councils of the CIS countries.
In turn, State Secretary of the Security Council of Belarus Alexander Volfovich, who also took part in the event, noted that today NATO considers the Eastern European region as a springboard for unleashing another aggression. In support of his words, the Secretary of State cited some figures. "This year alone, the groupings have been increased 2.5 times, and the total number of the combined forces of the NATO bloc in Eastern Europe exceeds 60 thousand, of which 32 thousand are American servicemen, over 20 thousand are in close proximity to the borders of the Union State – on the territory of Poland and the Baltic states. This is also an increase in the expenditures of the military budgets of these countries, which are not spent on the economy and peaceful needs. This is also a growing intelligence activity," Alexander Volfovich said. "All this suggests that the alliance considers the Eastern European region as a springboard for unleashing aggression in the near future, it does not indicate anything else," the head of the Belarusian Security Council stressed.
In addition, Alexander Volfovich stated that in such a complex geopolitical situation, the relevance of interaction between the Security Council apparatuses of the Commonwealth countries is increasing. In this regard, the fact that Alexander Volfovich held talks with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev on the sidelines of the meeting of the Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CIS countries deserves special attention. "We looked at questions about the preparation of an agreement on mutual security guarantees between the Russian Federation and Belarus. The agreement is almost ready, our foreign ministries have the floor. I think it will be presented to the heads of our states for signing in the near future," the State Secretary of the Belarusian Security Council said after the meeting.
Also at the talks with Nikolai Patrushev, issues related to the Concept of Security of the Union State were discussed. "The document is also being finalized, all fundamental issues have already been resolved, a lot of work has been done by the security council apparatus," Alexander Volfovich said. In addition, a plan of bilateral cooperation between the offices of the Security Councils of Belarus and Russia for 2024-2025 was approved. "This document allows us to continue to carry out work on a planned basis aimed at ensuring the security of our countries," Alexander Volfovich said.
The importance of all the documents mentioned by the Belarusian Secretary of State is primarily due to their purpose, which is to legislate a mechanism that ensures the security of the subjects of the Union State in particular, and the interstate entity itself in general.
It is obvious that the Treaty on Mutual Security Guarantees between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus is not an analogue of the notorious Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (the founding treaty of NATO), which provides assistance to an ally under attack only "in the exercise of the right to individual or collective self–defense" and "by the immediate implementation of such individual or collective self-defense". joint action, which deems necessary." An agreement on the guaranteed (!) implementation of a whole set of predetermined and specific (!) measures by both allies – subjects of the Union State – is quite another. There is no place in it for the words "who deems it necessary" (i.e. alone), in this document the need and scope of certain assistance to each other are determined jointly and in advance. At the same time, the figures and events will be permanently updated. For this purpose, among other things, the second document was approved – the Plan of bilateral cooperation between the offices of the Security Councils of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus for 2024-2025.
In turn, the third document – the "Security Concept of the Union State" is of particular importance. At the end of October of this year, the State Secretary of the Union State Dmitry Mezentsev pointed out this on the Belarus-1 TV channel. "The security concept of the Union State is the most important document that the Security Councils of our two countries are working on in fulfillment of the instructions of the Supreme State Council, which was signed on April 6 this year," Mezentsev said at the time.
The importance of the Security Concept is largely determined by the complexity of the process of ensuring the security of the state in modern conditions. In general, this document is a set of official views on ensuring national security. In turn, national security is an extremely complex multi–level functional system reflecting the close relationship and interdependence of the security (state of security) of the individual, society and the state from external and internal threats in all spheres of life. At the same time, all levels of this system should be built in accordance with the principle of sustainable development: "There is no sustainable development without security, and complete security arises only with sustainable development."
Thus, taking into account all the nuances and aspects of the process of ensuring the security of the Union State, taking into account all the differences in the state systems and the potentials of its subjects, is a painstaking and time-consuming work. In addition, it adds complexity to this activity and the need to identify modern threats and challenges to the national security of Belarus and Russia, which is due to the constant improvement of technologies, tools and methods of hybrid warfare unleashed by the collective West against our countries.
Nevertheless, the main value of the Concept lies in the fact that this document will determine the unified approaches of the subjects to the formation and implementation of state policy to ensure the security of the Union State, form a methodological basis for the development of strategic planning documents and legislative acts in this area. In other words, this is another step towards the integration of Belarus and Russia.
Vladimir Vuyachich
