MINSK, 21 May (BelTA) – We should respond to all threats in an appropriate and timely manner, Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Affairs of the House of Representatives Andrei Savinykh said at the international conference “Responding to external challenges and threats: Parliamentary dimension of the Union State [of Belarus and Russia], BelTA has learned.
“First of all, I would like to stress that not only the military and politicians, but all citizens are responsible for defending their Motherland. Politicians, of course, can play an important role in this field. Contemporary warfare differs fundamentally from traditional wars. It is waged not by means of force and with the use of military equipment, but with the help of cognitive technologies, ideology, and economic pressure. All this comes within the scope of politicians: it is about negotiations, where parties should defend their positions and search for solutions. In my opinion, the best way to respond to such threats is deciding for ourselves what world we are building, what country we are developing, what union of nations and countries we want to create in order to secure the future of our nations. Ideological issues are taking center stage. The civil society of Belarus should unite around these ideals,” Andrei Savinykh said.
According to him, completely alien standards are forced upon Belarusians. “They are individualism, measuring people's value with their fortune, fragmentation of the public consciousness. As we can see, many things are implemented so subtly that they only hint at the existence of a consistent strategy. We should respond to these threats in an appropriate and timely manner. First of all, we should bring our society together. We should actively oppose any attempts of foreign players to decide our future in our stead,” Andrei Savinykh noted.
The international conference “Responding to external challenges and threats: Parliamentary dimension of the Union State” is held as a hybrid event, as some participants have joined online from Moscow, Minsk, and other cities of the CIS. Taking part in the conference are members of the Parliamentary Assembly and the Belarusian and Russian parliaments, representatives of international organizations, ministries, government agencies, higher education institutions, and research institutes of Belarus and Russia as well as leading experts in law and political science.
“The topic of the conference is very important not only for Belarus, but also for Russia. It is one of the first large-scale events held under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarus-Russia Union State featuring MPs of the new convocation of the National Assembly of Belarus,” stressed Sergei Rachkov, Chairman of the International Affairs and National Security Commission of the Council of the Republic. “The external pressure on the post-Soviet countries is intensifying and elections in these countries serve as the main pretext for it. We should respond to fake news, pressure, and sanctions that are used against Belarus, Russia, and the Union State in general in an appropriate manner. Of course, the main goal of our adversaries is to separate Belarus from Russia and obstruct the formation of the common economic and political space. However, we believe that together we will not let this happen,” he added.
The program of the conference includes a plenary session and three sections: “Responding to external challenges and threats. Ensuring rights and liberties of citizens in the Union State and other countries”, “Electoral legislation and its enforcement in Belarus, Russia, and other countries”, “Preserving historical memory, foiling attempts to glorify Nazism and reinterpret the outcomes of the Great Patriotic War”.
The decision to arrange the conference was taken at the 59th session of the Union State Parliamentary Assembly.
