DISINFO: Belarus leaving the EaP disabled EU from completing a cordon sanitaire between the Baltic to the Black Seas.
SUMMARY
Belarus suspended its participation in the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) programme. This situation is a fatal blow to the main geopolitical project of the West on the post-Soviet area, which institutionally shaped the construction of the “buffer zone” between Russia and the EU. The Belarusian refusal to participate in this project disabled the EU from completing the “cordon sanitaire” between the Baltic to the Black Seas. De facto, Belarus has withdrawn from the main Western anti-Russian geopolitical project in the post-Soviet area.
It is not by chance that Poland became one of the initiators of the EaP – this programme reflects the Polish geopolitical concept of the establishment of a “sanitary cordon” along Russian borders. Poland does not have sufficient resources to take back the former lands of the First Rzeczpospolita, so the EaP is the protectorate of Brussels. The Eastern Partnership programme is clearly about the “buffer zone” and “sanitary cordon”.
The Belarusian decision to suspend cooperation with the Eastern Partnership is the greatest geopolitical defeat of the West since the reunification of Crimea with Russia.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU Eastern Partnership, which is portrayed as an “anti-Russian” and “postcolonial” tool used by the EU for alleged interference in internal affairs of the post-Soviet countries as well as the West's strategy of encircling Russia.
On 26 June 2021, Belarus suspended its participation in the Eastern Partnership. This step was the Belarusian regime's reaction to the introduction of the second round of EU sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership initiative is a mutually beneficial and flexible platform for countries in the region to build a closer relationship with the EU if they choose to do so. The EU does not demand any of its partners to make a choice between the EU or any other country or grouping. The Eastern Partnership stands for good neighbourly relations and respects the individual aspirations and ambitions of each partner country and is not an attempt to encircle Russia. Read more about the Eastern Partnership and its priorities here.
Read similar cases concerning the Eastern Partnership here.