Vladimir Ohryzko

I am quite surprised by some of our Western partners.

These days , warnings are being heard from Western partners about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine . Everyone is wondering if the situation is so critical? I am grateful to our Western partners for sharing intelligence information with us. The only surprise was that the first reaction of our high-ranking officials was as follows, they say, it’s okay, we are used to it . In my opinion, the situation is not too critical. But also not such that we have to sit and pretend that nothing is happening.

We should very clearly coordinate our efforts with our Western partners. And in this regard, the decision of the British to send military personnel to Ukraine, if necessary, seems to be cardinal . Moscow has been made clear that this will not be limited to mere ” concern.” Our diplomacy now needs to reach agreements with other allies who are capable of doing something, and not just call Putin and say that they hope for a constructive role for Russia. This is where it appears who is your friend, and who is just a cynic, doing his thing under the guise of beautiful, peaceful conversations.

As for the statement by Josep Borrell that the European Union will not help Ukraine militarily, because there is no military alliance with Ukraine . So I don’t really understand what a military alliance with the European Union is, since it is not a military alliance and I have not heard of the European army. These are somewhat strange statements. And in this respect, we should be guided not by the European Union, but by real NATO allies who can help us – the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Poland, the Baltic countries.

Against the background of Putin’s saber rattling near Ukraine and on the Belarusian border, I am surprised by some of our Western partners, who, I repeat once again , call Putin and ask him to influence Lukashenko . Or is it just fantastic cynicism, or a complete lack of understanding of what is happening? It’s still a mystery to me.

There were also statements from the Foreign Ministries of France and Germany, in which the ministers promised that communication with Russia would be carried out in order to demotivate it from any aggressive actions. I will explain this diplomatic language. “Communication” in the case of France and Germany was embodied in two, in my opinion, shameful conversations that French President Macron had with Putin, and then Mrs. Merkel with Lukashenko . During the first conversation, Macron called on Russia to take a “constructive approach . ” Again – be it cynicism or inadequacy in assessing what is happening. And Mrs. Merkel, who has been earning her last weeks as chancellor, with her phone call actually recognized Lukashenka as the legitimate president of Belarus. That immediately caused an outbreak of indignation in the countries of the same European Union.

Therefore, we must, unfortunately, understand that behind these words ” will be communicated” is very little, at least in the performance of Germany and France. These countries, unfortunately, did not demonstrate and do not demonstrate the position that they should demonstrate based on their weight.

All hope is in the new government of Germany. Because both the Greens and the Democrats are quite critical of Russia and its foreign policy. I would very much like this to move from the category of hopes to concrete actions. But at the same time, we understand that the government will be headed by a Social Democrat, who has already declared that there will be no military assistance to Ukraine.

Therefore, we must proceed from these realities and understand that for a long period of time Germany and France will be under the influence of Russia. Our task with other allies is to try to explain in as much detail as possible to the leaders of these countries that they are making a big geopolitical mistake.

In this case, we need a healthy skepticism so as not to get too euphoric about what someone there might say somewhere. We must understand that the issue of our protection is in our hands and our closest real allies, ready to help. And we know who these countries are. And those who are engaged in ” verbiage”, then these countries need to clearly, clearly and very non-diplomatically speak about those things that do not suit us, and speak publicly. For non-public forms, as we see, unfortunately, do not work.

(c) HB