Evgeny Shevchenko, a member of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, is visiting Belarus these days. The purpose of his visit is to promote economic and humanitarian ties between Ukraine and Belarus.
Mr Shevchenko, how do you assess the events in Belarus? Do you think they were due to internal factors or was it foreign influence ?
I think that the events that happened after the presidential election in Belarus were logical. Your country has economic and political stability but lacks a vibrant political life, political parties. The West has imposed, and continues to do so, false foreign values, so-called freedom and market economy on many countries in Eastern and Central Europe. The youth succumbed to the influence of the West. Things became boring for them and they wanted adrenaline. It happens when people do not know troubles, grief, when they get bored.
Young people began to take to the streets. Here I see two factors of influence. You can't just get everyone to protest by calls from the outside. Most likely, it was a synergistic process, which was immediately picked up by those who benefit from the destabilization of the situation, those who wanted to overthrow Lukashenko. He is an uneasy partner for them and they do not control him. Such a country in the center of Europe is a problem for them. In that first video by Tikhanovskaya where she said that she was a weak woman, that she failed and that she quit, it was clear that back then she was not under foreign influence. However, soon afterwards Lithuania took her under its wing and things started rolling from there. We had the same thing in Ukraine. We had reasons to take to the streets. Ukraine suffered from rampant corruption under Yanukovych. However, nationalists, various political forces, including those from the West, stepped in and started rocking the boat. In other words, the developments that followed were managed from abroad.
We all know the consequences. Therefore, kudos to Aleksandr Lukashenko who managed to take the situation under control. Government agencies did not betray their state, they refused to destroy state institutions. It was very important. I watched from the outside, it was very important for me that government institutions did not begin to collapse. Everyone has the right to show their discontent. But as soon as it comes to violence, this is no longer good. And here I am absolutely on the side of Aleksandr Lukashenko. He did everything right.
At the first stage, the opposition complained that they were not heard. They were offered dialogue platforms but they did not have anything to say.
This is how I see things. Belarus has chosen the right path. It is necessary to develop political movements, and first of all, there should be a pro-presidential political party, which, I am sure, will win a majority in parliament at the elections and confirm Lukashenko's legitimacy in the eyes of the international community once again. All this will basically help diversify the political and public life of those who want to participate in public life and have a say. You know, there are many critics, but when you give them powers, we immediately see their worthlessness, unprofessionalism and inadequacy. We have seen this happen in Ukraine all the time.
Let's give such people a small loss-making company and see how they fare. This will be a political destruction of your opponent. They are constantly criticizing you, telling you how bad you are, trying to accuse you of corruption. Put them in office and you will see how they will turn into nothing. Our political life in Ukraine is turbulent and frantic. We have had a lot of faultfinders. But as soon as they are put in office, they immediately disappear as opposition, politicians and so on. We must give them an opportunity to prove their worth in public life. Then let people choose in a fair political competition, whose narrative and party program they can subscribe to. Let people choose, this is normal. Here I fully support Aleksandr Lukashenko. He is on the right path.
You have firsthand experience in Maidan and color revolutions. Do you think they lead to success?
They say that a revolution is a successful coup while a coup is a failed revolution. It is a double-edged sword, so to say. Let us take the French Revolution and its outcome – it took decades to bring it to an end. Speaking about the events in Ukraine, I can say the following: people had their reasons to protest. Yanukovych made mistakes. So people took to the streets. After that, we started witnessing foreign interference. Later, representatives of business took to the streets, because they were dissatisfied with Yanukovych's policy. Then nationalists hijacked the protest and everything went according to script. You know about that. As a result, we lost 7% of the territory, had 13,000 casualties, have a split society, an economic decline, and lost markets.
The situation in Belarus is also influenced by destructive Telegram channels…
Then create your own Telegram channel. Here is my tip. People will also subscribe to it. You have everything you need for this.
What mechanisms do you think can be used to resolve the situation and prevent it from growing into something larger?
It won't grow into anything larger anymore. I can analyze what happened in Ukraine and in Belarus. Being abroad Tikhanovskaya is no threat. You know the commander has to lead from the front, not from abroad. Conclusions have to be made. I have one recipe. I don't want to interfere, it is your domestic policy. I treat your country with respect, trust me, and the government whatever it may be. We love your people so much. All Ukrainians have a very good attitude to Belarusians. A wonderful country, great people – kind, responsive, one would be hard pressed to find people like that with an open soul and heart in Europe. This is why I am not going to offer advice and recommendations. What would I do in your place? Let me repeat once again. It is necessary to diversify the political landscape. It is necessary to give political parties an opportunity to grow so that they could compete with each other. Trust me, I've been through elections more than once. Your pro-presidential party will secure a majority anyway. Staging street protests is one thing but the political life, assuming the responsibility is a totally different thing.
You barely arrived here when many Ukrainian mass media started discussing the matter. Are you afraid you will face condemnation for siding with the Belarusian government when you come back to your country?
I've sided with the people of Ukraine. I cannot cite specific figures but trust me: an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians are in favor of normal, friendly, and brotherly relations with Belarus. Those, who condemn me, are either foreign influence agents sent by Soros' Renaissance Foundation or dumb people, you can quote me, short-sighted politicians.
