Walesa: Pro-democracy movements around Russia should be cautious :: Charter'97 :: News

Former Polish President Lech Walesa, whose Solidarity movement in Poland helped topple communist regimes across Eastern Europe, said that pro-democracy movements in former Soviet republics should move cautiously.

The Nobel Peace laureate said he believes if, for example, opponents of Belarus` government win more independence too quickly from Russia, that nation will "turn off the taps" on Belarus economically, cutting off its supply of natural gas, oil and electricity.

"If this happens to take place in winter, the Belarus people will just go kneeling to Russia, begging Russia to turn the taps on," Walesa said during a news conference Thursday on the University of Kansas campus. "They will never try to oppose Russia again."

Walesa came to Kansas to accept the Dole Leadership Prize, awarded by the institute named for former Sen. Bob Dole, a Kansas Republican.

Walesa touched on a wide range of topics, including the war in Iraq. He said while he believes the United States should have obtained global backing for invading Iraq, it had no choice but to act alone because Europe was divided on how to handle Saddam Hussein`s regime.

Speaking through an interpreter, Walesa also reminisced about the Solidarity movement, organizing workers in the late 1970s as they confronted Poland`s communist leaders. That led to questions about how Walesa views pro-democracy movements in the republics that once were part of the Soviet Union.

"We still have to be very, very cautious and our proposals have to be cautious, realizing that both economy and politics have to be analyzed together, because unless you come up with the economic proposals, the political victory can be undermined very, very easily," he told reporters.

Walesa`s work as a human rights activist has won him numerous accolades, including the European Award of Human Rights and honorary degrees from Harvard University and the University of Paris. He won the Nobel prize in 1983.

Walesa, 61, was a former car mechanic and army corporal when he went to work in Gdansk`s shipyards as an electrician in 1967. He lost that job nine years later because of his efforts to organize workers.

Walesa, Poland`s president from 1990-1995, was the third person to receive the US$25,000 (euro20,450) Dole prize. The first was former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Former Democratic presidential nominee Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota also has received the award.