Belarusian Popular Front leader condemns union with Russia (04/07/96)

Belarusian Popular Front leader condemns union with Russia

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - On the eve of the signing of a new union between Russia and Belarus, Zyanon Paznyak, chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, condemned the actions of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, accusing him of establishing a "criminal, pro-fascist authoritarian regime."

Mr. Paznyak - now a Belarusian dissident - delivered his remarks at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil sponsored by the Ukrainian Media Club on April 1 in Kyiv. He had arrived in Kyiv two days earlier to publicize the plight of his native Belarus, where he said his life has been threatened in recent days and where censorship has made it impossible to appeal directly to Belarusian citizens to defend the independence of their state.

Ukrainian national democratic leaders - among them Mr. Chornovil, Ukrainian Republican Party Chairman Bohdan Yaroshynsky, Democratic Party of Ukraine Chairman Volodymyr Yavorivsky and Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists spokesman Serhiy Zhyzhko, as well as Prosvita President Pavlo Movchan - were the first to offer their Belarusian brothers support during these difficult times.

Mr. Paznyak and the BPF turned to these Ukrainian forces and traveled to Ukraine in search of a podium from which to issue their message of distress.

Mr. Paznyak said Ukraine was his first stop on a list of countries in Europe where he will travel in order to spread the Belarusian national-democratic message. On April 2, however, he returned to Miensk to attend a rally protesting the Lukashenka-Yeltsin accord.

Ukrainian national-democratic forces held a public meeting of support for Belarus on Sunday afternoon, March 31, at St. Sophia Square, gathering more than 400 Ukrainian citizens. Speakers at the meeting also spoke out against Russian aggression in Chechnya, the attempts of Communist deputies to renew the Soviet Union, and the need to ratify a new constitution for Ukraine.

According to Belarusian Popular Front leaders addressing the meeting, President Lukashenka has ordered the Procurator General's Office to begin criminal proceedings against the BPF, and Vasyl Bykau, one of Belarus' foremost writers, has received a number of death threats.

The Belarusian leaders appealed to the Parliament, civic and political organizations of Ukraine, as well as its 52 million plus citizens in an open letter issued on April 3. "We cannot allow a heretic pro-Moscow, pro-fascist regime to torment Christian people living in the heart of Europe; we cannot allow them to abuse our culture, our human rights," read the statement. It concluded with the words: "Glory to Ukraine. Long live Belarus."

"Why is the president of a sovereign country surrendering his state of Belarus? Instead of living and working for its national interests, why is he working solely for his personal benefit?" asked Mr. Paznyak, who was joined by his press secretary and a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Syarhey Navumchyk.

"Why is he renouncing the Belarusian language, abolishing Belarusian schools, refusing to publish textbooks in Belarusian?" Mr. Paznyak asked Ukrainian journalists gathered at the press conference on April 1.

"Can you imagine this taking place in a normal country? The president of Belarus publicly acknowledges his high regard for Hitler's regime," added Mr. Paznyak, who warned that "Moscow's imperialist policy is a threat not only to Belarusians."

"It is a direct threat to Ukrainians, the economy and the independence of Ukraine. It is also a danger to Poland, Lithuania, all of Eastern Europe; a risk to the stability of this part of the world; and a course aimed at renewing blocs of opposition in Europe," said Mr. Paznyak.

"The annexation of Belarus is a danger sign not only for the stability of Ukraine, but all of Europe," he explained, adding that "Russian troops are based on the territory of Belarus. The silos for nuclear missiles have not yet been destroyed in Belarus. And President Lukashenka has told our Parliament - and this has been applauded - that 'Belarus will be the shield of Russia. No rocket will get through to Russia,'".

Citing Russia's need for dominance on the territories of the former Soviet Union, Mr. Paznyak told journalists shocking stories of what has gone on in Belarus, including a ban on the independent press and the appointment of Russian citizens to the country's national security council and government.

"The Belarusian people are patient, but there is a limit to their patience," he declared. "And what will be done when we reach our breaking point? I see two ways out of this current situation: The first is the final collapse of the Russian empire. And the second is an armed revolution," he said.

Both he and Mr. Navumchyk explained that the events of March 24 in Miensk had tested the patience of many citizens. On that day, youths, women and pensioners were beat up by special forces on the streets of the capital city; force and tear gas were used to break up a meeting of 40,000 people in support of Belarusian sovereignty. They also noted that the "official line" had organized an alternative meeting in support of the new union treaty between Belarus and Russia on March 30, but the only way these forces were able to gather people was by direct order of state enterprise bosses, who forced their workers to attend.

Mr. Paznyak called the situation in Belarus an "internal occupation that chokes freedom of speech," a "psychological attack on the people of Belarus."

Russia's expansionism into Belarus began with the 1995 referendum on the state language and state symbols, continued Mr. Paznyak. It further developed as Moscow started to use Belarusian territory as a transit channel for gas exports - free of charge. In such a way, Gazprom, the Russian gas company, siphoned $2 billion (U.S.) from Belarus in one year, he said.

"Russia will get all of our resources - and we will receive only problems," explained Mr. Paznyak, who added that the Belarusian people have not been told the contents of the treaty signed on April 2. In fact, the text of the accord has not been released, he said.

The treaty was signed by Presidents Lukashenka and Boris Yeltsin, and blessed by Patriarch Aleksey II in Moscow on April 2, in the Kremlin's St. George Hall. The leaders hugged and kissed during the ceremony and other government officials and Communist leaders cried.

The accord, which is formally known as the "Treaty on the Formation of the Community of Sovereign Republics," envisages a common foreign policy, and joint efforts toward ensuring the security of both countries and the protection of their borders. Some leaders here have begun to label this new integration the CIS-2. Membership in the new "community" is open to all former Soviet republics.

Russia and Belarus pledge to cooperate in the military sphere and set up a common economic market in order to ensure the free flow of goods, services, finances and personnel.

By the end of 1997, the two sides should unify their fiscal and budget systems to pave the way for the introduction of a common currency.

The new entity's ruling body is to be the Supreme Council, comprising the heads of state and government, as well as parliamentary leaders.

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