West May Use Kiev to Pressure Belarus, Report Says
A Russian-Belarusian report says the West may use Kiev authorities against Belarus, while expanding militarization under the “Russian threat” claim.
Western countries have begun looking at the Kiev authorities not only as a tool against Russia, but also as a possible means of pressure on Belarus, according to the third joint report by the Russian and Belarusian foreign ministries on the human rights situation in selected countries.
The document says that since 2022 the West has used the authorities in Kiev as a geopolitical and military foothold against Russia. More recently, the report adds, Western officials have started raising the idea of involving Kiev in efforts directed against the Republic of Belarus as well.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also pointed to what it described as attempts to build a new hierarchy of states, rewrite history and undermine the basic principles of international relations. Among those principles, the ministry listed state sovereignty, equality of peoples and the secular nature of interstate relations.
According to the Russian side, the same political line is reflected in double standards on human rights. The ministry also said that Western governments are retreating from social obligations while moving various sectors of their economies toward militarization under the pretext of an external threat.
As an example, the ministry referred to the claim of a «Russian threat.» Moscow argues that Western countries use this narrative to justify expanding military activity, increasing the number of army exercises and raising defense spending, while those funds could instead be directed toward the social and economic development of their own populations.