MINSK, 17 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian case has different perspectives in Moscow and Washington, Piotr Petrovsky, an expert with the Belarusian public association Belaya Rus, said in his telegram channel, BelTA has learned.
“The context of the meeting between Putin and Biden was shaped by the strengthened positions of China. For Biden, the goal was to prevent an alliance between Beijing and Moscow. For Putin, it was to bargain a maneuver to keep China at Russia's arms' length. Ahead of the meeting, Washington agreed to extend the nuclear arms reduction treaty and to waive sanctions on the Nord Stream-2 project. Now Washington has gone further and made some more basic proposals to Moscow," the analyst said.
In particular, they agreed to cooperate on the Arctic, to work together on the Iranian nuclear deal and contribute to the shared effort of preventing a resurgence of terrorism in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO troops.
Washington has agreed to pursue diplomacy related to the Minsk Agreement on Donbass, which is a nod to Moscow. Probably, the most important point is the agreement to return the ambassadors to their posts. I think that the number of staff of the two diplomatic missions will be restored soon. Another agreement was about the swap of prisoners.
Speaking about the importance of the talks between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden for Belarus, Piotr Petrovsky said that for Belarus it is important to align the interests of Moscow and Beijing in Minsk, and prevent their pitting against each other. “The Belarusian case, based on Biden's remarks and in Peskov's telling, has different perspectives in Moscow and Washington. Preventing the militarization of NATO countries along the border of the Union State, if discussed, bore little fruit, apparently,” he said.
