Russia’s Pursuit of Pro-Russian Lobbies

Russia is attempting to reorganise post-Soviet structures such as CIS, CSTO, EAEU, and The Union State into coherent set of “pro-Russian lobbies”. To date, only Lukashenka has been active in this regard, acting as the Kremlin’s press attaché on certain security issues.

On June 9^th, Lukashenka and Putin held allegedly pre-planned talks in Sochi, simultaneously with the meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council and the Council of CIS Heads of Government. It seems that Putin has decided to wear down his colleague, who is not doing well with his health, with frequent trips to Russia.

One of the most important topics of the consultations was the security situation, which Putin described as stable (“I would even say good, confident”). Regarding the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) in Belarus, Putin claimed that “everything is going according to plan: on July 7-8^th, the preparation of the relevant facilities will be complete, and we will immediately begin deployment of the relevant types of weapons to your territory.”

From Lukashenka’s point of view, Belarus and Russia need to develop an action plan to mitigate Western sanctions. Despite the fact that import substitution plans have existed for more than a year. To implement such a plan, partners are important; Lukashenka mentioned Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan within the framework of the EAEU.

On June 8^th, Lukashenka held a meeting with the secretaries of the security councils of the CSTO member states, during which he discussed the “special military operation” in general terms (Western countries allegedly took advantage of it “to bring our space to its knees. And then there is China. This is their main goal”). In addition, he specifically recalled Minsk’s peacekeeping initiatives, which were allegedly suggested from the very beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Interesting data is provided by “Bielaruski Hajun” regarding Belarusian “peacekeeping”. During the invasion, the self-proclaimed President of Belarus, A. Lukashenka, not only provided territory to the Russian Armed Forces, but also handed over 131,582 tons of ammunition to use against Ukraine.