Belarusian President Lukashenko reveals the dream of a “new world order” in the Russian war

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko delivered a bizarre letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres in which he argued that the UN and other world leaders should essentially let Russia do whatever it wants in Ukraine and blame it for the consequences to avert the war, as the Russian armed forces continue to wage war in the country for the 89th day.

He urged other governments to stop supplying arms while the war in Ukraine continues and tried to portray supplying defense weapons as provocative behavior, ignoring the fact that Russia had started the war in Ukraine.

“Together, and each in his own role, we can do a lot today: refrain from arms sales,” Lukashenko said, adding that all countries could “refrain from information warfare and any provocation, from inflating hate speech in the media, from encouraging racism and Discrimination based on national, cultural, linguistic and religious affiliation, through legalization and management of mercenaries.”

Lukashenko urged the Secretary-General to consider introducing a “new world order” in which all members of the international community have “security guarantees” as it would be in the UN’s interest “to prevent the conflict from dragging on with devastating consequences “.

The Belarusian president, who has supported Putin’s war in Ukraine even before it began – with senior US officials warning that Belarus appears to be operating hand-in-hand with Russia – has also tried to make Belarus look like a misunderstood victim rather than an instigator to let .

“Today, unfortunately, the world forgets that Belarusians have never been a threat to any of their neighbors,” he said, lamenting the sanctions imposed on Russia. “We are not aggressors, as some states try to portray us. Belarus has never been the initiator of wars or conflicts… The conflict in Ukraine, its causes and the current Western sanctions against Russia are already having their devastating consequences…”

“We are not traitors,” added Lukashenko. “Honesty and integrity in relationships are important to us.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin also seems to be trying to dismiss the blame for the war in Ukraine and its aftermath; At a meeting with Lukashenko on Monday, Putin joked that he needed to speak to Western officials about their claims that he was to blame for all of the world’s economic woes following the invasion of Ukraine.

Lukashenko also accused other countries, not Russia, of instigating the war and claimed that they were ignoring Russian needs, echoing previous complaints by Putin about Ukraine and NATO being aggressive towards Russia.

“The unwillingness of Western countries to work on strengthening common and indivisible security, their disregard for legitimate interests and ignoring the concerns of other partners, primarily Russia, first led to trade, economic and information wars, and then provoked a hot one Conflict on the territory of Ukraine,” said Lukashenko. “The security architecture in Europe has failed.”

Her comments come as Russia approaches its three-month war with Ukraine, and just a week after Putin and Lukashenko berated their allies for not helping Russia enough in the war effort in Ukraine and urged them to step up their efforts step up to win support for Russia on the world stage Russia.

Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have stalled for weeks, and Lukashenko urged the countries to come together and try again to discuss a way forward.

“Belarus calls on the countries of the world to unite and prevent the regional conflict in Europe from escalating into a full-blown world war,” Lukashenko said. “In 2022, it was Belarus that was able to start negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on our territory.”

But the Belarusian president’s attempt to portray Belarus and Russia as the wronged parties and as one of the few willing to hold peace talks is, of course, revisionist history at best. Belarus isn’t the only country calling for talks – Zelenskyy hinted that talks could resume if Russian forces do not kill Ukrainian forces defending the Azovstal Iron and Steel Plant in Mariupol.

At the moment, Russia’s plan for Ukraine is not entirely clear, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Monday.

“In terms of his overall strategy, that’s unknown,” Austin said.

Of course, Lukashenko’s comments that a resumption of peace negotiations would be welcome belie some of the difficulties in actually cementing a solution to the war. Ukrainian officials have warned in recent days that the country is not interested in a ceasefire agreement that would cede territory to Russia.

Andriy Yermak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, said Sunday the war will only end when Ukraine takes control of all of its territory.

“The war must end with the full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” Yermak said in a tweet. “That means our victory. Our common victory with the civilized world.”

Anything less than that, or attempting to make concessions to Russia, would only mobilize Russia’s war effort, according to Mikhail Podolyak, Ukraine’s top peace negotiator.

“Any concession to Russia is not a path to peace, but a war postponed for several years. Ukraine trades neither with its sovereignty nor with territories and the Ukrainians living on them.” said Podolyak Saturday on Twitter.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, the top official of Ukraine’s military intelligence, hinted in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that Ukraine is interested in regaining all territory lost to Russia since 2014, including Crimea.

Ukraine is not alone in insisting on a full Russian withdrawal. Poland’s President Andrzej Duda agreed in the past few days that Russia should also withdraw completely.

Meanwhile, however, the war shows no signs of ending. Russian forces continue to attack Severodonetsk in eastern Ukraine in what Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said was an attempt to systematically destroy the city.

And while Putin acknowledged that the sanctions were difficult to deal with, he hinted that Moscow will be able to withstand their consequences for some time.

“Despite all the difficulties, the Russian economy is withstanding the impact of the sanctions, quite well,” Putin said at his meeting with Lukashenko in Sochi.

Ukrainian officials appear to have dug in their position to resist Russian attacks as well. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada approved Zelenskyy’s request to extend martial law for another month while Ukrainians counter the Russian attack.

And contrary to Lukashenko’s desire for foreign nations to stop helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s attacks in the war, foreign leaders continue to provide Ukraine with aid and arms to keep Russia repelled. Twenty nations announced new aid packages Monday after a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine, according to the Pentagon.