Parfianovich: I talked about "Russian servants" because I was "too young"

The Minsk Manifesto for Belarus-Russia Unification group goes public again. Leanid Sinitsyn tells the Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy that he still wants Belarus to become part of Russia. His fellow group member and former Belarus MP Uladzimir Parfianovich explains the differences in his statements on this matter.
The manifesto came out in early May 2007, with Sinitsyn and Parfianovich calling for Belarus to enter the Russian Federation and give up the country's independence.

Their former supporter Siargej Skrabets used to write at that time on the Nashe Mneniye (Our Opinion) analytical web site that even the leaders in Moscow could not afford themselves making such a statement. He described the action of Sinitsyn and Parfianovich as "a political and cultural provocation".

Now again, "manifesto men" have launched a fresh publicity campaign in both the domestic and foreign media.

The European Radio for Belarus asks Uladzimir Parfianovich why.

"We propose what the people (of Belarus) and those at power want. All of the initiatives have found a deadlock. We are offering a way out of this impasse regarding the relations between Belarus and Russia," he said.

Parfianovich maintains that "many people support the idea of unifying two fraternal peoples", yet he names only Sinitsyn among those "many people".

Several years ago, Parfianovich was perceived as a pro-democracy politician, when he was part of the somewhat opposition parliamentary group "Respublika" together with General Frolov and Siargej Skrabets.

In 1995, Parfianovich (formerly the three-time Olympic Champion in canoeing) told the Pressball sports newspaper as follows:

"…I am against a political incorporation into Russia. We have our state, our language, our people. Otherwise, we will always remain being Russian servants. Most of the thinking people share my point of view. Russia used to drink, drinks now and will keep drinking". (Pressball, 1995, October 17, No 41).

What has happened with Uladzimir Parfianovich? Why has he changed his view point so drastically? Those are the questions that ERB asked the current protagonist of Belarus's incorporation into Russia. He said:

"Back then, I didn't realize exactly what was going on in the relations between Belarus and Russia. I was too young… I could see only one side of the coin".

Photo by Photo.ByMedia.net (left to right): Leanid Sinitsyn, Uladzimir Parfianovich, Siargej Skrabets and Boris Nemtsov: Minsk 2003