Valiantsin Akudovich: Ignore and get rid of Colorado beetles

Until Russia remains to be imperial, it will continually pose threat to Belarus and the surrounding world.

Ribbons of Saint George are becoming increasingly popular in Belarus, though after the war with Ukraine was launched, these ribbons became the symbol of a fratricidal war, the symbol of wild outburst of separatists observed today in the south-east Ukraine.

By seizing Crimea, Russia has destroyed the old myth about the “Slavic fraternity”. No Ukrainian will ever again offer his hand to a Russian, who has become an aggressor and a murderer for him. And how will Belarusans live in the neighborhood of Russia, if it can break in our country with arms at the ready at any moment?

This question “EuroBelarus” Information Service discussed with Valiantsin Akudovich, philosopher, writer and culture expert.

Belarus is now in a complicated situation. The war is going not in our country and not with us; but the trap we are caught into can be even more dangerous that the Russia-Ukraine war. It is impossible to predict how Lukashenka will manage to get out of the trap with the least losses possible. However good politician he might be, if Russia conquers Ukraine nothing will help him.

Russia-Ukraine war doesn’t mean that Kremlin will annex Belarus by mere introduction of army in the country. It can be done in an absolutely different way, and Moscow can even keep formal status of either region or republic for Belarus.

Let me put it simple: if Ukraine loses, we will also lose, if it stands the war – we will recover, too. So – glory to Ukraine!

- The latest polls of the Independent Institute of Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS) demonstrate that after the start of war in Crimea pro-Russian moods have been growing in Belarus. 28 per cent of the respondents stand for the union of Belarus with Russia. What can be such self-destroying desire be accounted for?

 - All these polls (about who has pro-European views and who has pro-Russian views) blunted our vigilance and our conscience. I’m afraid that these polls are very abstract and do not reveal the real moods which can show up in case of emergency.

- Sociologists from the Russian “Levada-center” conducted an all-Russian poll according to which half of the respondents stand for the broadening of Russia’s territory at the expense of annexing lands with the Russian-speaking population, including Belarus. How should Belarusans react to that?

- According to this poll, Russian-speakers are mostly oppressed in Ukraine (62 per cent), in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Georgia, and least of all they are oppressed in Belarus (4 per cent) and in Armenia (5 per cent). Let us emphasize that Belarus occupies the last place in oppressing the Russian-speaking population, which means that Russia has no excuses for annexing Belarus to Russia. However, if Putin decides to renew the Russian empire, or the Soviet Union, Belarus can also be included in the new old empire.

Until Russia remains to be imperial, it will continually pose threat to Belarus.

- The infection of separatism is already hovering over Belarus and is embodied in ribbons of Saint George, which are associated only with the Russian aggression. What can Belarusans oppose to the orgy of Russian imperialism?

- I am no politician, I have no recipes. Though ribbons of Saint George, which remind me of Colorado potato beetles (because of their coloration) irritate me a lot. But Colorado beetles only occur temporarily: after the season ends, they disappear. But what is important is that they don’t eat everything that is growing in Belarus during the season.