Belarusian troops given orders to fight against Ukraine, but did not comply – Belarusian opposition leader

DENYS KARLOVSKYI – FRIDAY, 3 JUNE 2022, 22:25

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of the Belarusian opposition, claims that Aleksandr Lukashenko, the self-declared president of the Republic of Belarus, and his government have ordered Belarusian troops to advance on the territory of Ukraine, but the highest-ranking officers did not comply.

Source: Tsikhanouskaya in an interview for Mark Feygin on YouTube

Quote from Tsikhanouskaya: "Our Belarusian army is not ready psychologically and technically. Yes, of course, there are people there who are prepared to go to the barricades because they don’t understand what a war is – according to experts, there are some 10,000 people like that. But the majority of the soldiers – first of all, let’s take their moral position, the Belarusian army, Belarusian soldiers don’t understand why they have to fight against Ukrainians, our neighbours who only have positive feelings towards us, for the sake of two dictators’ ambitions.

We have evidence that such an order [to advance on the territory of Ukraine - ed.] was given by the [Lukashenko - ed.] regime, but the highest-ranking officers knew that the Belarusian soldiers were demoralised and had no desire to mount an offensive, to join the Russian forces. And this order just wasn’t conveyed to the lower ranks."

Details: The leader of the Belarusian opposition said that at the beginning of the war, when the risk of an attack by the Belarusian forces was at its highest, the committees of soldiers’ mothers and other democratic initiatives were working to convince Belarusian soldiers to switch sides and join the Ukrainian Armed Forces if they were forced to advance on Ukraine.

Tikhanovskaya is convinced that the ongoing training and exercises that the Belarusian Armed Forces are engaged in represent Lukashenko’s attempt to attract attention and create an impression that he is a powerful player on the international geopolitical arena.

She said that despite the criminal involvement of Lukashenko’s regime in the Russian aggression, Belarusian people want to preserve good neighbourly relations with Ukraine.

She said that the military experts in her circle have access to sources among Lukashenko’s ruling class who are willing to share information with them.

Tsikhanouskaya hopes that at a time when the Lukashenko regime is weak, some of the bureaucratic establishment and military commanders will side with the democratic opposition or refuse to carry out Lukashenko’s orders. She added that underground military experts are establishing contacts with some top-ranking military officials in Belarus.

Background:

• At the end of April, Tsikhanouskaya provided the US government with evidence of Lukashenko’s involvement in Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine. She acknowledged that the state apparatus of Belarus is an accomplice in the Russian war against Ukraine.
• The training and military exercises of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border and the Belarusian border with other Western countries are set to continue until at least 11 June.
• The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports that Belarus has begun planting mines along forest roads, bypass roads, and bridges on its own territory, in the areas near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
• The Armed Forces of Belarus are creating a new operational command near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
• The Ukrainian government was expecting that the Belarusian Armed Forces would join Russia in the war against Ukraine in early March. On 11 March, Russian military aircraft conducted an airstrike on Belarusian villages near the border with Ukraine.