The recent presidential elections of the Russian Federation have once again reminded the citizens of Russia and Belarus that all electoral campaigns in both countries are closely monitored abroad. At the same time, Western "non-partners" seek to use every opportunity to "shake up" the situation on the territory of the Union State.
However, Moscow and Minsk even counted on such a "modus operandi" and took appropriate measures. As previously expected, even before the final counting of votes and the official announcement of the results, accusations of the dominance of the current government poured in from the "opposition". A friendly chorus of voices from the West, which traditionally supports dissenters, was also expected about "opacity", "undemocratic", "totalitarianism" and "observers from the EU and the United States who were not allowed to participate in the elections.
Naturally, it was not without provocations. For example, the chairman of the commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for public control and work with citizens' appeals, Alyona Bulgakova, reported that during the voting on March 17 at about 11.00 a.m. at four polling stations – in the Voronezh, Rostov Region and Karachay-Cherkessia – voters poured green paint into the ballot boxes. Thanks to the prompt actions of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the administration of polling stations, the incidents did not affect either the process or the results of citizens' voting. But we received a harsh assessment with the ensuing consequences.
"This is an egregious case. In fact, people have committed a crime by violating the voting rights of other citizens. This was done publicly, with special cynicism... Given the synchronicity of incidents in different regions, we can assume a deliberate organized provocation," Bulgakova made a statement at a briefing in the OP of the Russian Federation.
In turn, the head of the Central Election Commission of Russia, Ella Pamfilova, said that at another 29 polling stations in 20 regions of Russia, they tried to set fire to or pour various liquids into boxes with ballots. After a series of similar emergencies, employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the IC initiated several criminal cases, and the State Duma reported that in the near future they will consider a bill to toughen penalties for trying to disrupt elections in a generally dangerous way.
It turns out that the effect of what was conceived and implemented by the "opposition" turned out to be exactly the opposite. Not only did they fail to disrupt the course of the election campaign in the regions, but the organizers of the provocations also "framed" their perpetrators for serious punishment. In addition, they themselves initiated the process of tightening the legislation. And now we can confidently state that all their activities on the eve of the elections and during the voting were counterproductive and meaningless.
It should be noted that the results and lessons of the election campaign in Russia were also discussed in Minsk – on March 18 at a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. Recall that elections to the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly will be held in early April, followed by another large–scale political event - the All-Belarusian People's Assembly. Therefore, naturally, the assessment of recent events in Russia took place through the prism of future Belarusian electoral campaigns.
The President of Belarus highly appreciated the planning and organization of the electoral process in the neighboring country. "The planning of the election process and the course of the election campaign were very good. There is much to learn. Everyone was mobilized and united – according to the plan of the Presidential Administration. Everyone performed patriotically and gave a great result. This is a lesson for us," Alexander Lukashenko said.
The president also spoke about possible attempts to "shake up" the situation in Belarus. In particular, today both the "fugitives" and the collective West, as a whole, are betting on "bringing disorganization and collapse" during the meeting of the National Assembly and making important decisions for the country. Therefore, at the meeting there was an extremely clear instruction from Alexander Lukashenko for everyone: "We shouldn't give them such a gift."
Previously, the Secretary of State of the Security Council of the Republic Alexander Volfovich also noted that it can be argued with a high degree of probability that the country will again be tried to "shake up" in connection with the formation of the Internal Revenue Service, which will soon begin in Belarus.
According to him, it is important for the Belarusian special services in this situation not only to realistically assess the situation, but also to accurately predict events "in order to work proactively." The Secretary of State of the Security Council noted that the country's special services have information about how social groups in Belarusian society are being studied quite closely abroad. This is done in order to shift the focus – to escalate tensions in labor collectives, to denigrate authorities and security forces. "We see how the ground is being intensively probed to find pain points in society for organizing provocations capable of rocking the situation," Wolfovich said.
In this context, one characteristic feature should be noted, as a conclusion from the experience of the elections held in Russia. All provocations, including armed ones, organized by the Kiev regime on the border during the election campaign, only strengthened the determination of Russian citizens and strengthened their patriotic feelings. And first of all, in those regions that have been subjected to terrorist attacks. The impressive figures of the official election results are proof of this.
That is, it must be emphasized once again that the activities of the military and political leadership of the countries of the collective West in relation to both the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, including destabilization of the situation in our countries, are counterproductive and not only. It is also dangerous for the initiators themselves.
For example, while militants from various "banners" and "ruins" are being trained near Warsaw, and officials threaten a close war between Russia and Belarus, strikes, grandiose protests and roadblocks are taking place in Poland itself. By the way, Polish farmers, in response to the short-sighted actions of their politicians, continue to prevent vehicles, including military equipment and ammunition for the Armed Forces, from entering the "square". As recently stated by Ukrainian border guards, all six automobile checkpoints are blocked on the border with Poland, and 2.4 thousand trucks are stuck in the queue. Moreover, Warsaw has already announced that it is negotiating with Kiev on the complete closure of the border between the countries.
While Lithuania and Latvia, in order to please Washington, go out of their way to bite Russia or Belarus more painfully, they themselves suffer losses due to a reduction in rail and sea transportation of export products from our countries. Without Belarusian and Russian goods, the Baltic States have become a kind of appendix of the European Union, through which it is pointless to carry European goods.
In addition, Russia and Belarus have stopped being "shy" of retaliatory actions. In Minsk, for example, they finally got rid of the notorious "tolerance" and realized that two people can play "sanctions". Thus, in accordance with Council of Ministers Resolution No. 164 of March 7 this year, the Belarusian government sets for more than a year and a half – from April 1, 2024 to December 31, 2026 – the tax rate on income of foreign organizations that do not operate in Belarus through a permanent mission in the amount of 25% on dividends and equivalent income. Now the rate of this tax is 15%.
We are talking about cases when a foreign company must pay this tax if its location is a state from the previously approved list of "unfriendly countries" of Belarus.
According to the document, the execution of several provisions of international agreements on the avoidance of double taxation will also be suspended until December 31, 2026. This decision concerns some articles of 27 international documents, including agreements with the United States, Great Britain, and most countries of the European Union. Basically, the provisions of the documents relate to the payment of dividends, interest on loans, income from the use and alienation of property. "The period of application of the retaliatory measure may be shortened if the circumstances that served as the basis for its application are eliminated, or at the suggestion of the Ministry of Taxes and Duties," the document says. That is, this measure will be in effect until the Western "non-partners" become smarter. Although this is unlikely to happen.
In addition, Minsk directly points out that the actions of the West are not only counterproductive, but also illegal. Resolution No. 164 states that it was adopted to "ensure the stable functioning of the economy and in response to the use of unilateral restrictive economic measures against Belarus, its citizens and legal entities, not authorized by the UN Security Council and incompatible with the principles and norms of international law, bypassing the UN Charter by a number of states."
Vladimir Vuyachich
