MOSCOW, 9 November (BelTA) – The West is putting unprecedented political, economic and military pressure on the Union State, Deputy State Secretary of the Belarus-Russia Union State Aleksei Kubrin said at the expert meeting “Russian-Belarusian relations in 2021: Union State programs, new challenges, and integration directions” on 9 November, BelTA has learned.
“Indeed, the political, economic and military pressure exerted by Western states is unprecedented. There has never been such a large-scale military exercise and such a buildup of troops, forces and equipment on our borders. This is coupled with political pressure and biased media reports talking about possible threats to the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine. It is clear that all this has one purpose only: to escalate the tensions,” he said.
In this regard, Aleksei Kubrin described the adoption of the new Military Doctrine of the Union State on 4 November by the Supreme State Council of the Union State as a milestone event.
“The same applies to the concept of migration policy of the Union State,” he stressed. “Its adoption was very timely. We see that the task that we seek to address by developing the common migration space is being tested once again today.”
According to Aleksei Kubrin, Belarus has nothing to do with the migration crisis on the borders of the European Union. “These were the EU countries that gave the corresponding invitation. They took an active part in the creation of a very difficult situation that the Middle East is facing today. Now they are building up this pressure on the border,” he said. This, of course, has an impact on the migration policy of the Union State.
The expert meeting “Russian-Belarusian relations in 2021: Union State programs, new challenges, and integration directions” was organized by the A.A. Gromyko Association for Foreign Policy Studies. The event took place using videoconference technologies and premises of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Representatives of Belarusian and Russian government agencies, agencies of the Union State of Belarus and Russia, Belarusian and Russian experts took part in it. They discussed three areas: this year's results in Belarusian-Russian relations, top-priority tasks concerning the realization of Union State programs, and integration beyond the framework of Union State programs, in particular, what needs to be done within the next 2-3 years.
