A photograph that has flown around the world

Palace of Independence. Noon. A sturdy man walks out of the residence and straightens his black baseball cap. Very close - a few hundred meters away - the indistinct rumble of the crowd. He tilts his head and leans forward, listening to the unusual noise. Uuuu-aaaa-uuuu - these sounds are uncomfortable. Still uncomfortable from the sticky heat that happens before a thunderstorm. He runs his fingers over the cold steel of the machine, trying to capture the coolness of the weapon. On the cobblestones, a little further away, are the state security officers. He sighs. Today is his birthday.

Photo lens click.

This is how we saw Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko yesterday in a photograph that flew around the world. A calm, brooding man with a weapon, ready to defend his truth. On the other side of the fence, he was threatened by a crowd - well-dressed, with smartphones, well-educated in his schools and universities. The kids grew up and thought that they could go on by themselves, which means they could burn their own house to hell. In fact, it's a very biblical story. And another would have escaped if Lukashenka had been. Yanukovych escaped.

But he turned out to be not one of the timid dozen, therefore he preferred to celebrate his birthday in the besieged residence with the closest people - with his son Nikolai, the beautiful Natalia Eismont and state security officers. And with the people. Yes, yes, with that silent, gloomy majority who goes to hard work, goes down to the mines and takes over on duty. After all, it was their support that gave Lukashenka confidence and made him act in a radical way. What could be more radical than a rifle in the hands of the president?

For the opposition, yesterday should have become, if not decisive, then extremely significant: the summer is over, which means that students will go to schools and universities, managers will return to offices, and hipsters to coworking spaces. In general, the most suitable day for mobilizing the assets of the kalyar revolution to the fullest. But something went wrong: at first, the riot police quickly caught the tactics of the "wandering crowd", then as if nature itself began to resist the generation of smoothies - a cleansing rain fell over Minsk in all respects.

There is a photograph of the military commander Steshin: a pair of Soviet skates left by someone is dangling from a drainpipe. Best illustration.  

But it could have been different. According to the plan of the Polish curators, the protesters were to gather on the avenue. And when a critical mass accumulated there, sandwiched between houses, it would inevitably go for a breakthrough. And instead of rain, blood would be shed. Actually, what is expected in Lithuania and Poland. Yes, forget about spontaneity, a revolution is a serious job, where a lot of money has been invested and serious specialists are involved.

I have already talked about the massive number of collaborationist symbols that appeared at the very first rallies. Then they immediately began to oppose me that the Belarusians had white-red-white flags under their pillows for years. After all, what else does a Belarusian want? That's right - the opposition flag. However, the Western press is unable to explain the appearance of multi-meter flags that the demonstrators stretch for a beautiful picture. Knowledgeable people say that it takes at least a month to make a cloth of this size.

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However, no one hides the fact that Poland and Lithuania are supporting the pro-Western kalyar opposition. On the contrary, they are proud that for the first time after World War II they can influence international processes. For example, senior NATO comrades behave more modestly and try not to advertise their interference in the internal affairs of other countries. And here is the passion of the neophytes, enthusiastically drawing territories to their borders. However, this whole holiday of disobedience was interrupted by Vladimir Putin, marking the boundaries of what is permissible for the "hyenas" of Europe.  

That is why, in the very near future, Alexander Lukashenko will go to Moscow to check his watches: “We have an agreement. I say: "Let's think about what we are going to do." He says: "We know what they want." And Putin has already gone through several such stages, from the Chechen war, and knows what is happening around the borders. And we agreed with him. We will deal with this problem. " In all likelihood, a decision on total integration will be made in Moscow. Not a paper tiger that has existed for the past several decades, but a real step-by-step instruction on unification, which will become a new chapter in the interaction of the post-Soviet republics.

And it is important to understand: Lukashenka would have surrendered the republic to be torn apart by the crowd, and all this would have to be forgotten, but he preferred to fight. This is how I personally will remember him: in a black baseball cap, with a submachine gun, in a besieged palace.

Happy birthday, Alexander Grigorievich!

The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.