"West aims to use elites to face away Belarus from Russia" Caliber.Az from Minsk

Since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, unprecedentedly harsh Western sanctions have been imposed against Minsk for providing its territory to Russian troops. At the same time, a recent OSCE report states that Belarus is not a party to this international armed conflict "as long as it does not itself commit acts of violence or other actions that would constitute direct participation in hostilities".

What is the legal status of Belarus in this war, and what consequences could the country face for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine? Caliber.Az asked these and other questions to the director of the Center for the Study of the Prospects of Integration of the EAEU, Belarusian political analyst Dmitry Belyakov.

According to him, Belarus is faced with the consequences of Russia's support and allied position regarding the Russian Federation's "special military operation" on the territory of Ukraine.

"The first is, of course, the introduction of comprehensive sanctions against Russia. Sanctions are also being imposed against Belarus, which in the opinion of the West, supports the actions of the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, the Republic of Belarus is not directly involved in the special operation. Minsk is fulfilling its allied obligations within the framework of the allied grouping of troops, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Yes, Russian troops were stationed on the territory of Belarus as part of military exercises. Now a certain group of Russian troops is on the territory of Belarus within the frames of allied obligations of the two countries," stated a Belarusian political analyst.

Belyakov also noted that Belarus does not violate any international law, from the legal point of view.

"Although now it's very difficult to speak about the norms of international law since the same EU countries and the USA are reformatting the international law for their own needs," added the expert.

The political analyst considers that if Belarus did not provide its territory for the Russian troops, first of all, it would damage the allied relations.

"It would also have a negative impact on further cooperation between Russia and Belarus in the economic sphere. Such actions would indicate the pro-Western position of the Belarusian leadership. However, this did not happen thanks to the wise actions of the Belarusian president," the expert said.

According to Belyakov, the population of Belarus has a rather complicated attitude towards Russia's "SMO" (the special military operation) on the territory of Ukraine.

"The society of Belarus is quite split. There are a lot of intellectuals and businessmen who oppose SMO in Ukraine. Due to certain information policies pursued in Belarus, the percentage of those who do not support the special operation is higher," said the expert.

According to him, the maximum possible sanctions have not yet been applied to Belarus.

"The West traditionally plays on the desires of the elites. Washington has now submitted for consideration the removal of certain sanctions against "Belaruskaliy" in exchange for the transportation of Ukrainian grain through the territory of Belarus in the direction of Lithuanian ports. "Belaruskaliy" is the main exporter in Belarus and the main supplier of hard currency to the domestic market.

The flirting of the West with the national elites will continue. The West aims to use elites to face away Belarus from Russia. At the same time, President Alexander Lukashenko's competent and balanced approach allows us to say that in these difficult times, Belarus was the only country among the members of the CSTO to support Russia. Belarus was the only country in the CSTO, which is fully committed to its allied obligations. This is evident from the report of the head of Belarus at the CSTO summit, which was recently chaired by Armenia, which, in its turn, did not support Russia in the Ukrainian issue," Dmitry Belyakov concluded.