MINSK, Belarus — Belarus doesn’t want to host a Russian military air
base, President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday, a statement that highlighted
a strain between the two neighbors and allies.
Lukashenko said
that he knows nothing about plans to set up a Russian air base in Belarus and
added that his nation doesn’t need it, according to state news agency Belta.
“I feel surprised
and, to some extent, angry and annoyed by that,” he said.
The Belarusian
leader’s statement follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to his
government last month to sign an agreement on a Russian military base in Belarus . The
two countries have close political, economic and military ties, and Belarus depends
on Russian energy and other subsidies.
The Russian
military already has an early warning radar and a navy communications facility
in Belarus ,
but setting up an air base would mark a significantly bigger military presence.
The Russian move
comes at a time when Lukashenko has moved to improve Belarus ties with the West, which
long were strained over his crackdown on dissent and free media.
The Belarusian
leader hinted Tuesday that Moscow might want to
establish the base to try to hamper Belarus ’ efforts to warm up ties
with the West.
“Maybe they are
worried that we are going to go to the West, and they raised the issue so that
the West starts asking us about it and having doubts whether we really want to
normalize ties,” he said.
The Kremlin had no
immediate comment on the statement by Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since
1994 and is certain to win a fifth term in Sunday’s election against token
challengers.
On Sunday, about
1,000 opposition activists in the Belarusian capital protested Russia’s plans
to set up the base, voicing fear that it would add to regional tensions already
heightened by the conflict in Ukraine, and make it impossible for Belarus to
maintain neutrality between Russia and the West.
Alexander
Klaskovsky, a Minsk-based independent political analyst, said that Lukashenko
has always tried to maneuver between Russia and the West during more
than two decades in power, and he now fears that the Russian base would limit
his freedom of action.
“He’s trying to avoid isolation and total
dependence from the Kremlin, and the air base in Belarus would make him a Russian
vassal,” Klaskovsky said.
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