Lukashenka’s Personal Tragedy
- Valer Karbalevich
- 4.12.2019, 11:01
The whole current visit to Serbia is sheer nostalgia.
This is the fifth visit of Aliaksandr Lukashenka to Serbia (1998, 1999, 2009, 2014). Also, five visits of the leaders of Serbia to Belarus took place (1996, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019).
The trade between the two countries is relatively small. In 2018, the trade amounted to $ 148 million, which is 38.2% less than in 2017. Moreover, Belarusian exports to Serbia decreased by 41%. That is, an active exchange of visits has little effect on the economic relations.
In recent years, the cooperation in the defense industry has been developing rapidly. Belarus transferred eight MiG-29 aircraft to Serbia. Moreover, Belgrade pays only for their modernization.
It is also worth recalling that the Serbian company Dana Holdings, owned by the Karič brothers, became the largest developer, the most active player in the construction market of Belarus. Itis building a large complex on the territory of the former capital airport, as well as a business center in the Kastrychnitskaya Square.
It should be noted that the Belarusian-Serbian relations have undergone a rather large evolution. Now the state media in Belarus are very enthusiastic about how Lukashenka visited Serbia in 1999, when the country was at war with NATO, and the Western coalition planes bombed Belgrade. At that time, official Minsk was waging a political, ideological, diplomatic war with the West. Then Lukashenka urged Russia to repulse the “NATO monster”, sought to prove to the Russian society that he was a greater defender of the Slavic peoples than Boris Yeltsin, and therefore, a better candidate for the Kremlin throne.
Lukashenka supported the Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosévic even after he was overthrown by the popular revolution in 2000, and stigmatized its leaders as “Western mercenaries.” It is not surprising that in 2001-2012 the Belarusian-Serbian relations were cool. In 2012, Serbia joined the EU sanctions against the official Minsk.
It is also important for Serbia that Belarus did not recognize the independence of Kosovo.
The whole current visit is a complete nostalgia for that visit to Belgrade in 1999. Lukashenka several times, being in the Serbian capital, turned to those times, reminded of his then visit. “Then no one thought that we were doing some kind of heroic act,” he modestly noted, casually elevating himself to heroes.
Lukashenka can be understood. Then he was real. Everything was simple and clear - who is the enemy, and who is the friend. There was no need to pretend, adapt to the West, justify for the so-called parliamentary elections. Now everything is complicated.
Second moment. Lukashenka understands well that in Belarus, he is already, to put it mildly, not very popular. For those accustomed to popular love, this is a personal tragedy. But there is a country where he really enjoys love, for that, according to the Serbs, the “heroic act” of 1999. There is no second such country in the world. It is no coincidence that he was invited to speak in parliament. There are not many places on earth where Lukashenka’s soul can enjoy peace. Therefore, mutual compliments are so generous. This is primarily a psychological recharge. For the sake of this alone, it was worth coming to Belgrade.
And further. The next day, on December 4, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić meets in Sochi with Putin. So, the current Lukashenka’s visit to Belgrade, widely publicized by the Belarusian state media, is some sort of a way, relatively speaking, to wipe the nose of the Russian president. Who was Putin in April 1999 when Lukashenka already committed “heroic deeds”? Yep, no one. No one knew him. Let us think a little about it before December 7.
Valer Karbalevich, Radio Svaboda