19 March 2024, Tuesday, 7:46
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

Mikalai Statkevich: Patriots Ready To Defend Belarus From Russia

59
Mikalai Statkevich: Patriots Ready To Defend Belarus From Russia
MIKALAI STATKEVICH

The response of the Ministry of Defence has revealed that the authorities are not prepared to resist aggression from the East.

Leader of the Belarusian opposition, presidential candidate of Belarus at the election-2010 Mikalai Statkevich has said this to the charter97.org website, commenting on the response signed by Minister of Defence Andrei Raukou to the letter of the Council of the Belarusian National Congress with the requirement to explain whether the army is ready to protect the country from the Russian military intervention.

- The Minister of Defense said that there hasn’t been any questioning of the Belarusian officers, which would reveal pro-Russian sympathies in many of them, and accused the authors of the letter of doubting the defensive capability. How would you comment on Raukou’s response?

- I got the answer of the Minister of Defence today by e-mail. I consider it a positive thing that he did no keep silent.

It shows also that the Ministry of Defence and the Belarusian regime remain concerned about the threat from the East. This response serves several goals. Firstly, it is an attempt to pacify the society. Secondly, it is a signal to Moscow that "we have everything in order." Thirdly, it is a signal to those who serve in the army about the position they should take.

I admit that conducting a survey of the Belarusian officers might be something political analyst Valer Salavei made up. Salavei is not only a political scientist, but also a specialist in the information warfare and could run the information on purpose, as an element of the psychological warfare. However, I am sure that the Russian special services regularly analyze the moods of the Belarusian officers.

Secondly, although Raukou says that "everything is fine" and all are patriots and ready to defend, he seems afraid to say, "to defend from Russia." Even his vague and ambiguous wording "to defend in any situation" seems too optimistic. I analyze the situation in the army and I know that for many reasons today's army is not ready to defend Belarus in case of a threat from Russia.

The authorities themselves carried out that propaganda about the "united peoples", "Russians with the quality mark", "integration", "to crawl on one’s knees to Moscow" for 20 years. This propaganda is still here now. People who went to military schools, they knew that they were going to serve the state, the government of which was ready to unite with Russia. Finally, for many officers and ensigns the military service remains just a job to earn a living. They compare the salaries in the army of the Russian Federation and Belarus. And these comparisons remain not in our favor.

So, everything is not as good as Andrei Raukou says. I completely deny his allegations that by expressing doubts about the ability of the authorities to protect Belarus I "undermine" the foundations of the defensive capacity. We did not express doubts in our letter. We just heard the information and asked questions.

However, now I'm really expressing doubts that the authorities are capable of defending the country. And the Ministry of Defence, responding to our letter, showed that they feel uncertainty about this ability of the regime and are ready for the dialogue.

The Belarusian National Congress is also ready for such a dialogue. Patriots are ready to assist in the defense of our Homeland against the aggression of the Russian Federation.

The Council of the Belarusian National Congress will meet again on December 7. Three sorest issues will be on the agenda. First, it is a continuation of the campaign "Return Power to the People!". The lack of legal government is the biggest problem of Belarus, which causes two more significant issues. These are the impoverishment of the people and the degradation of the economy.

The third huge problem is a threat to the sovereignty of our state. On this issue, we are ready to talk even with the devil himself, and even more so with the officers of the army and the Ministry of Defense. Although this Ministry remains derivative from the illegal government, it should defend the country’s independence at least by the name and official duties.

The Belarusian National Congress will consider how to assist the Ministry of Defense in improving the defense capability of Belarus. We will prepare a detailed plan of the public activities aimed at increase of the defense capability of our country. We are ready to offer it also to the Ministry of Defense. If the military leaders of Belarus reject it, we will turn directly to the citizens of Belarus, without asking the government’s permit. The situation now is that the society itself should ensure the protection of the independence of Belarus.

Write your comment 59

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts