Shautsou: Belarus cannot become our region’s Switzerland

Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed the Defence Directive on December 16. He commented on the situation around Belarus critically. The state leader criticized the situation in Ukraine, in the west and even in Russia.

Belarus is not in good surroundings now, political scientist Yury Shautsou told Euroradio.

Shautsou: “Belarus is surrounded by states experiencing difficulties at the moment. Ukraine is at war... And we can see what is going on in the Russian economy now... It is deeply involved in the Ukrainian war. The Baltic States are panicking as many expect them to be the next target after Ukraine.”

Belarus will hardly be able to play a neutral part like Switzerland and host negotiations, the expert thinks. Switzerland is a very militarized country and it did a lot to reach its current status, Shautsou said. Switzerland’s neutrality was guaranteed as every aggressor knew that major losses would be suffered if the country was attacked. That is why Shautsou is skeptical about the idea of Belarus playing Switzerland’s part.

Photo: Belsat