Natallia Radzina: Lukashenka's Entourage Knows His Adventure To End In Failure
- 27.07.2022, 10:09
Many Belarusian military and officials are thinking about their future.
How to stop missiles flying from the territory of Belarus to Ukrainian cities? Natallia Radzina, editor-in-chief of Charter97.org, tells about it in her new program Studio X97:
- We need to think seriously about the liberation of Belarus. We told it even before the war started. For many years, we have been proving that Belarus is a key country in the region. If Belarus were a free and democratic country, it would guarantee the security of the entire European region. We used to address Ukrainian authorities, too, and say: "Help us, help the Belarusian opposition. It is necessary to support independent media in Belarus to inform people about the events in Ukraine. We have proposed to install FM stations in the territory of Ukraine to broadcast to Belarus. We offered one of the Ukrainian television channels to broadcast in Belarus. It would have been possible at that time when trade and economic relations were active. And it would have had a significant effect on the situation.
But, unfortunately, they did not hear us. In 2020, after the dispersal of peaceful demonstrations, Ukraine did not join those economic sanctions the West imposed on Lukashenka's regime. That was a huge mistake. I do hope that these mistakes will now be fixed. A free and independent Ukraine can't exist without a free and democratic Belarus. A key strategy on how to liberate Belarus is needed.
Today, there are a lot of Belarusian volunteers fighting in Ukraine. There is a regiment named after Kastus Kalinouski, and the Pahonia regiment. I know a lot of Belarusians are fighting in different units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And these people directly say their goal is to help Ukraine and liberate Belarus. So let's think. This is a matter for the military of both Ukraine and NATO countries. Let's think about how we can all deprive Putin of this convenient springboard into which he has turned Belarus and used it to attack Ukraine, and threatens to attack NATO countries: Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
- You mentioned an attack. May we guess Lukashenka's entourage can resist or are they steadfast tin soldiers?
- I think there are different moods there today. Reasonable people understand this ship is sinking. I think there are reasonable people there. Of course, many of them are scared. People who today occupy some key positions, the generals of the Belarusian army or top-ranking officials, are barely capable of any active action. However, I believe there are a lot of middle-ranking officials and military personnel who care about their fate. They know this adventure will end in Putin's defeat and Lukashenka's unconditional defeat. They do not want to be held responsible for the crimes that these regimes are committing today.