The Russian and Belarusian intelligence services announced on Thursday (June 3rd) to increase their cooperation in the face of “the aggressiveness of the United States and Western countries», A new sign of rapprochement against a background of increased repression of the opposition in Belarus.
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The head of the Russian foreign intelligence (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin and that of the Belarusian security services (KGB) Ivan Tertel announced “have agreed to develop a common work of resistance to the destructive actions of the West“. According to them, Western countries are trying to “destabilize the political and socio-economic situation”In both countries, notes a statement released by the SVR after a meeting in Vitebsk in Belarus.
Faced with an unprecedented street movement against his re-election last summer, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has since piloted a vast crackdown on the protest, accusing the West of having orchestrated the protests. The European Union and the United States adopted in reaction to the mass arrests a series of sanctions targeting in particular the most senior officials of the regime.
In reaction, Alexander Lukashenko made an accelerated rapprochement with Russia, his neighbor and main partner with whom he maintained turbulent relations, accusing Moscow for a long time of wanting to vassalize his country. The two states have been linked since 1999 by a “Russia-Belarus Union», A politico-economic alliance with ill-defined outlines and long remained at a standstill, despite Moscow’s constant efforts to deepen economic, political and military integration.
Just last week, Alexander Lukashenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Poutin met in Sochi, in southern Russia, to discuss in particular deepening economic integration. Belarus is increasingly dependent on Russia, and this dependence could increase further if the European Union carries out its threat of economic sanctions against two key sectors of the Belarusian economy: gas transit and potash .
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