Camilla Jessen
Belarus official claims West seeks to exploit country.
Western governments see Belarus not as a partner but as a prize to be taken from Moscow, a senior Belarusian lawmaker has said.
Oleg Gaidukevich, deputy chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs in Belarus’s House of Representatives, told TASS that Western countries are focused on pulling Belarus away from Russia.
He was responding to a statement by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, which said on Monday that Western non-governmental organizations were again building up resources to destabilize Belarus and attempt to “change the constitutional order”.
“This is an absolute truth. They will test the ground and, at any moment they consider suitable, they will strike,” Gaidukevich said.
A choice since 1994
According to the lawmaker, Western opposition to Minsk dates back more than three decades. He said that since 1994, when Alexander Lukashenko came to power, Western actions toward Belarus have been driven by resistance to the country’s geopolitical alignment.
“This has nothing to do with democracy, freedom, some standards, or human rights. It is solely about geopolitics and Belarus’s choice,” Gaidukevich said.
“The choice of Belarus and its people is an alliance with Russia,” he added.
Alliance with Moscow
Gaidukevich said Lukashenko’s policy of close cooperation with Russia has reinforced Belarusian statehood, a direction he claims the West will never accept.
“Lukashenko has led Belarus into an alliance with Russia, which strengthens our sovereignty and statehood. This is precisely what the West will never forgive,” he said.
“They view Belarus exclusively as a country they would like to plunder, as they did Ukraine, to strip of sovereignty, turn it against Russia and pull it away from Russia,” Gaidukevich added.
The lawmaker argued that Western actions toward Belarus are part of a broader effort to weaken Russia.
“This is all a struggle against Russia, and Belarus is considered in this context,” he said.
He warned that such efforts would not end soon, predicting increased pressure around future elections.
“Nothing will end this year or in five years. An especially active phase will be in 2029, on the single election day, and in 2030, with the presidential election,” he said.
Sources: TASS, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service.
