"Everyone Knows That Lukashenko Is Under External Governance"
- 7.05.2026, 12:05
Why did the Belarusian Foreign Ministry take offense at Armenia?
Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan said that Yerevan would not allow the country to be turned into a "province" and would not be governed like Belarus. Minsk responded to these words with a nervous Foreign Ministry tirade, which only emphasized the painfulness of comparing Lukashenko's regime to a Kremlin vassal.
Why did Alen Simonyan's words hit Lukashenko's regime so painfully?
The Charter97. org website asked to comment.org asked Stepan Grigoryan, one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Armenia in the 1990s, former deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the republic and former Armenian ambassador to Russia, to comment on what is happening:
First, I would like to consider the two statements of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus in one context. Alen Simonyan said these words about two or three days before the summit. You know, the European Political Community summit was held in Yerevan on May 4, and the EU-Armenia summit was held on May 5.
Alain Simonyan made this statement even before the summit, in connection with the fact that Russia started to impose very tough trade restrictions against Armenia. I won't go into it now, it's a separate topic, but it was a strong attempt to punish Armenia.
For example, we have Jermuk Group, a company that supplies Jermuk mineral water to Russia. More than one and a half million bottles have been recalled. This is a serious sanction. There are other restrictions related, in particular, to the Wildberries company. And Alen Simonyan reacted absolutely adequately.
He clearly said that Armenia will not become a province. We will do everything to prevent this from happening. Why is Russia acting this way? It actually says: don't accept the European Union summit in Yerevan. If you do, we will punish you.
And the second part of his statement was that we will not allow doing to Armenia what Russia is doing to Belarus.
Why am I conflating this with what happened at the summit? Because the Armenian government officially invited Svetlana Tikhanovskaya there. This shows Armenia's position on democracy and autocrats who persecute democrats.
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry reacted very painfully to both of these events - Alain Simonyan's statement and Tikhanovskaya's participation in the summit. They summoned Armenia's Charge d'Affaires in Minsk and, roughly speaking, told him off, handed him a note of protest. Later, the second reaction followed - about Alen Simonyan's words. It was said that it was an "incorrect statement", that "Belarus is independent, that it supposedly "conducts strategic partnership with Russia on its own".
But such fairy tales can be told to anyone but us. Everyone knows that Lukashenko is being externally managed by the Kremlin. It's not such a big secret.
Another thing is important: the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reacted very painfully to both events. But they deserve that criticism. And, of course, I welcome the fact that the Armenian government has found the strength and principledness to take such a position.