We must pay tribute to Alexander Lukashenko: sometimes acting, there is no doubt, solely out of good feelings, he manages to put in a rather awkward position those whom he sincerely considers his almost allies. And now, speaking at a press conference with the Ukrainian media, the president of Belarus quite unexpectedly for many announced his readiness to bring peacekeepers to the Donbass and take control of a section of the Ukrainian-Russian border.
We quote Alexander Grigoryevich, here it must be done verbatim:
“If you want us to close the border of 400 km between Ukraine and Russia, which is now not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, we will close this border. Although it’s a big problem for me to get involved in this conflict, we are ready to introduce peacekeepers there. ”
We add from ourselves that Lukashenko said this to Ukrainian journalists, explaining that he had made this proposal before, but the previous Ukrainian administration rejected it. Especially while noting that this requires the consent of both opposing parties. And, in general, it’s quite possible to understand the head of Belarus: he really least wants to intervene in the conflict with any neighbors.
Just recall that in this particular case, Alexander G. generally managed to show the wonders of political balancing act. At the same time, he maintained good relations with Putin and with the former Ukrainian leader Poroshenko, whom the Russian president did not want to listen on the phone.
But then something clearly went wrong.
The first surprised Peskov.
More precisely, I was surprised in the framework of my own difficult official duties of the Kremlin official representative - and there was, frankly, why. Firstly, the very concept of “peacekeepers” implies the task facing these forces to prevent hostilities. But on the Russian border with the proclaimed republics, such problems, in general, are not and cannot be. And peacekeepers, if needed in the Donbass, are on the line of contact of the parties, and not in the deep rear of the rebel republics, on their border with the Russian Federation, which is not participating in the civil conflict.
Well, and secondly - sorry, but today there will be quite a lot of quotes: “We need to understand the attitude of the parties to the conflict to such a proposal. And the participants in the conflict in this case are Kiev, on the one hand, and the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass, on the other hand, ”explained Dmitry Peskov.
The reaction of Donetsk, too, was not long in coming.
“We gratefully reject the proposal of the Belarusian leadership to introduce their contingent to our borders,” the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin immediately said after Dmitry Peskov. And he added, putting the final point on the question: “The republic’s own law enforcement bodies cope with these tasks independently and quite effectively.” And both the offense of Donbass and some surprise at what is happening on the part of the Russian authorities is also quite understandable.
For both in Moscow, and in Donetsk, and in Lugansk, the parties to the conflict are Kyiv and the proclaimed republics of Donbass, which is recorded in the Minsk agreements. It would be logical for them to speak among themselves.
And so - neither with the Minsk format itself, nor even with the notorious Steinmeier formula, the proposal of the Belarusian leader does not correlate from the word “in any way”. For it does not solve either the questions of the separation of the parties, nor the questions of the ceasefire. This proposal does not affect the actions of Kiev. Because no Belarusian peacekeepers on the borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk republics with the Russian Federation will be able to control these potential actions of the Ukrainian side purely technically. Alexander Grigoryevich, you have confused a little.
The war, not stopping for a second, is going a little out of place - and it is civilian there, and by no means with Russia. Someone lied to you. No, it is clear that peacekeepers on the old Russian-Ukrainian border will be quite comfortable and safe, and this will give the main peacekeeper strong trading positions in negotiations with anyone - we understand this. And, probably, the Belarusian leader will not be prevented from strengthening them with something like that.
But why do they, these peacekeepers - even Belarusian, even Martian ones - on the border with Russia, need Donetsk and Lugansk, who poured too much blood on these lands with the blood of their militias, so that at least there would be peace and an open border with throwing them to Russia is a very, very big and very sore point.
But that's not the point.
Of course, Alexander Grigoryevich, being a reasonable person, perfectly understood from the very beginning that his proposal would not work (although, I think, he still hoped that it would not go through at first from the Ukrainian side) and did not count on its implementation. Because, at least, it is simply not suitable for implementation from the very beginning: it’s understandable, nobody will cancel the “Minsk packages”, under which are signed by the heads of four states and which are passed through the UN Security Council, for its implementation.
Now it is clear to everyone, including the Belarusian authorities, that in its current form the “Ukraine project” is absolutely unviable and must either undergo some upgrade, which few people already believe in, or Kiev, of course, either in the Norman one, or in which in a different format, they will certainly be invited to the negotiation table. But they will already invite, most likely, as the main dish, and it would be good for everyone else to be as clear and clear as the experienced Alexander Grigoryevich to understand. And at this negotiating table, the neighboring (quite strong and relatively neutral-friendly towards even the current sluggish Ukrainian statehood of Belarus), of course, should have its own representative.
And your national interest.
Perhaps even self-serving - for international relations, this has recently completely fit into the concept of “normal,” unfortunately. In such difficult times, forgive me, we live.
That is, in fact, this is such an application form, if someone has not yet understood the hint.
This is absolutely normal and is generally not condemned by the Russian Federation. Of course, there are some questions on the form, but on the content in general, in principle, none. They have every right. And therefore, according to all the written and unwritten rules of the diplomatic game, Minsk is trying to get out of the role of an exclusively “neutral platform for negotiations” (by the way, the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin pointed out to him quite a bit later). And to claim to be a player, even if not the largest, but independent and having his own geopolitical interest in these difficult issues.
So, in general, here, on the one hand, the actions of Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko are quite understandable and even reasonable somewhere, and so far they are aimed at obtaining results in the media, and not in real geopolitical space.
Here are just people from Donetsk and Lugansk in an awkward position: they have a war, they are nervous and may not understand it.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.