Lukashenko defies Putin's pressure to join war against Ukraine — ISW
Photo: Alexander Lukashenko (Getty Images)
Belarus’s self-proclaimed president, Alexander Lukashenko, continues to resist pressure from Moscow, which is attempting to fully draw Belarus into the war against Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
How Kremlin pressures Minsk
Analysts drew attention to a June 23 article in The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed Russian and European officials, the agency reported that the Kremlin is pressuring Belarus’s self-proclaimed president, Alexander Lukashenko, to more actively involve Belarus in the war against Ukraine.
Specifically, this involves allowing Russian troops to launch drones from Belarusian territory and expanding the front line in the west to force Ukraine to redeploy some of its forces to the Belarusian border.
According to the WSJ, a former Russian intelligence officer familiar with the situation claims that the Kremlin is threatening Minsk with the withdrawal of financial support if it refuses to comply with these demands.
What analysts say
According to analysts, Lukashenko is trying to strike a balance between maintaining Russia’s support for Belarus and what remains of the country’s eroded sovereignty.
"Lukashenko has resisted allowing Russia to operationalize the Belarusian Armed Forces to support Russian operations in Ukraine or full-scale recruit Belarusians into the Russian military at scale since 2022," the report states.
In addition, Lukashenko and other high-ranking Belarusian officials, as noted by the ISW, avoid the Kremlin’s rhetoric about an alleged threat to Belarus from Ukraine and maintain a relatively neutral stance on the war.
Relay stations went silent after Zelenskyy's ultimatum
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded that the Belarusian authorities remove at least four relay stations in the Brest and Gomel regions.
According to him, they were being used to guide Russian strikes on Ukrainian cities. Zelenskyy issued a stern ultimatum to Lukashenko.
Yesterday, Zelenskyy announced that as of June 22, the relay stations on Belarusian territory had ceased operations. It is currently unknown whether the equipment was dismantled or simply turned off.
