Natallia Radzina: Lukashists Accidentally Revealed Plans for "Zapad-2025" Exercises
- 29.05.2025, 15:20
Ukrainians and Europeans can respond to provocations.
The editor-in-chief of Charter97.org Natallia Radzina gave a great interview to YouTube channel of famous journalist Evgeny Kiselyov. One of the main topics of conversation is the danger of the Russian-Belarusian exercises "Zapad-2025", which will be held in our country in the fall.
Natallia Radzina believes Putin could use these maneuvers to attack the Baltic states and Poland:
- If I were European politicians, I would not reassure myself that while Putin is waging war against Ukraine and will not attack NATO member states. Today is a very convenient moment for him, when we see that the U.S. is self-effacing and does not react in any way to Putin's insolence - to continue the war, to intensify attacks against Ukraine. For the Russian dictator now is the ideal time to attack on all fronts.
Why should he wait for Europe to rearm, modernize its military-industrial complex, its armies? This is the most convenient moment for him.
War today has changed both strategically and tactically. There is a drone war, and we know that Russia is producing UAVs in huge numbers, and their technical characteristics are now superior to Ukrainian drones. We can see this from the massive strikes on Ukrainian cities in recent days. In this situation, imagine that these drones will fly in huge numbers to Vilnius, to Daugavpils, to Narva. Will the Baltic States be able to react? It will not take many troops or Russian equipment, which is known to be involved in Ukraine today.
The editor-in-chief of the website Charter97.org drew attention to the fact that Lukashisti mouthed off about the West-2025 exercise:
- The head of the faculty of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Military Academy of Belarus, Andrei Bogodel said literally the following: "These exercises will not have an abstract character. The exercises will be directed against Western countries, will take into account the experience of the war with Ukraine and will practice a nuclear strike." That is, these exercises will be practicing strikes with nuclear tactical missiles.
There are no nuclear missiles on the territory of Belarus at the moment. I have said this many times, and this information was recently confirmed by Ukrainian intelligence. There are carriers for nuclear missiles on the territory of Belarus - airplanes and Iskander missile systems, but there are no missiles directly, because there is no storage facility for them.
A storage facility is currently under construction. It is known that this storage facility is being built near Osipovichi. This is a town in the Mogilev region, 100 kilometers from Minsk and 190 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. It is a major railroad junction that connects Osipovichi with both Minsk and Gomel. It is possible to send missiles towards the Ukrainian border by railroad, but it will not be necessary, because Iskander missile systems will be deployed near the storage facility. There is also a military airfield there, from which airplanes with nuclear tactical missiles can be lifted at any time. Therefore, the threat remains, even though there are no tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus at the moment. They can be delivered by planes at any moment.
Natallia Radzina told why the West and Ukraine should not believe the regime's statements about the upcoming exercises:
- It's worth noting that an interview of Belarusian Defense Minister Khrenin came out, who said that allegedly the West-2025 exercises are defensive in nature and will not be directed against Western countries.
He said that "the exercises will take place deep inside the country, and the troops will be withdrawn from the Western borders." But I will remind you that this was stated by the same Defense Minister Khrenin who called the day before February 24, 2022, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry Alexei Reznikov and assured him that there would be no attack from the territory of Belarus. Khrenin is a liar, you can't believe him.
Evgeny Kiselev expressed the opinion that if in 2022 the Ukrainian Armed Forces entered Belarus, it would change the course of the war:
- I have already heard from many people that there was such an opportunity, and the AFU did not use it. In the fall of 2022, when Ukrainian troops launched a counter-offensive, particularly in the Kherson and Kharkov regions, there were all legal grounds to respond to Lukashenko's dictatorial regime, since Belarus was then directly complicit in the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
I agree with those experts who believe that perhaps the fall of Lukashenko's regime would have been a much greater nuisance to Putin than the loss of a small part of Ukraine's territory, an operation in Russia's Kursk region.
Natallia Radzina agreed that such an operation would have done serious damage to Putin's regime:
- If the Ukrainian army had entered Belarus then, the Belarusians would have welcomed the Ukrainians and an uprising would have immediately broken out. The Belarusian army would have gone over to the side of the Ukrainian army, I am convinced of that. We could have liberated Belarus and deprived Putin of an advantageous military bridgehead from which he is now threatening both Ukraine and NATO member states again.
But there was not enough determination for such an operation, nor for retaliatory strikes on military facilities and places where Russian troops were amassed in Belarus. Ukraine also had an absolute right to do so. Remember, even Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that "yes, there was such a possibility, Lukashenko was very much afraid of it, but we decided not to do so."
This was, of course, a big mistake, because I am convinced that Belarus is one of the key elements of Ukraine's victory in the war against Russia.
The editor-in-chief of Charter97.org also commented on the potato shortage in Belarus provoked by Lukashenko's regime:
- Potatoes are the second bread for Belarusians. Belarus has always been famous for growing potatoes in huge quantities, but now there is a total deficit of this product in stores. Moreover, there are not only no potatoes, there are no other vegetables - cabbage, onions, apples.
That is, a number of essential products, which have always been on the shelves, have disappeared. Periodically, something appears at much higher prices, and this is explained by the fact that all the potatoes grown in Belarus were exported and sold to Russia. This also speaks about the poor state of agriculture in Belarus.
Kolkhozes are deeply unprofitable. Today the country's agriculture is not able to produce so much potatoes to export. Also storage conditions are, of course, very poor. By May, the old potato stocks have practically run out, and there are no new ones.
Hence the shortage. And this also indicates the collapse of Lukashenko's model of economy. Today there are serious problems with the sanctions imposed and with the way Lukashenko runs the country.
This is a catastrophe. And today, of course, the Belarusians feel very seriously what life under a dictatorship leads to, and even in war conditions.
A huge number of Belarusians left the country after 2020. About 600 thousand people are the most talented, the most educated people and in demand on the labor market. IT-firms and international companies left entire offices, taking thousands of their employees. So, of course, the situation in the country is very difficult now. Salaries are low, prices are high, and there is a shortage of food. But if the potatoes have already disappeared - it speaks of Lukashenko's complete fiasco.
One of the subscribers of Yevgeny Kiselyov's YouTube-channel asked a question about the disappearance of the speaker of the "coordinating council" Anzhelika Melnikova. Natallia Radzina said what is known at the moment:
- I criticized Tikhanovska's office and the structures that were created in Belarus after she left the country. And Angelika Melnikova is just the head of one of such sham organizations, which were created in Poland and Lithuania.
This so-called coordinating council is absolutely illegitimate and fake structure. Only 6800 citizens of Belarus out of 7 million Belarusian voters took part in the Internet voting for it. An absolutely minuscule number of people. It was called a "proto-parliament" by Tikhanovskaya and her henchmen. As a result, Angelika Melnikova, who never had anything to do with the opposition, became the head of this so-called coordinating council.
Melnikova appeared out of nowhere. Her previous job was a manager at Coca-Cola Belarus. She immigrated after 2020 with some legend that she was allegedly detained at demonstrations but released. Recommended Melnikova to the "coordinating council" Pavel Latushko is another character I have a lot of questions for. A former minister and ambassador under Lukashenko, who worked for the dictatorship for 23 years and after 2020 went to the West to Tikhanovskaya to "lead the opposition", so to speak.
Anzhelika Melnikova disappeared in February this year. It turned out that Western grants allocated to the "coordinating council" disappeared with her. As a result of the investigation, conducted by both Polish journalists (because she lived in Poland) and Russian journalists from the publication The Insider, it turned out that she had ties with the Belarusian security services. Most likely, she was either initially an agent of the Belarusian security services or was recruited by them later.
Now it is expected that Melnikova may appear on the screens of Belarusian propaganda channels with some revelations and stories. This, in general, is not the first scandal in the structures created by Tikhanovskaya. There are a lot of strange people around her. All these years former officials and law enforcers of Lukashenko's regime have been close to her. I'm sure that there, of course, infiltration by special services is just total. There were a huge number of information leaks from these pseudo-structures, which led to mass arrests of citizens in Belarus. There were a lot of scandals. So the story with Melnikova is not surprising.
Natallia Radzina urges not to use the word "opposition" in relation to Tikhanouskaya's entourage. After all, the real leaders of the Belarusian resistance are in prison:
- These people have no right to represent the Belarusian opposition, they haven't fought against Lukashenko's regime for years, as many worthy representatives of the Belarusian opposition, who are now either in prison or in forced emigration. Having announced themselves only in 2020, they immediately went to Western countries and sat on the flow of European money.
And I am convinced that the real Belarusian opposition, the real leaders of the Belarusian opposition are in prison today.
Evgeny Kiselyov asked Natallia Radzina whether Lukashenko is afraid of a possible response to the West-2025 exercise by the Ukrainians and Europeans. The editor-in-chief of Charter97.org believes that the dictator cannot resist pressure from Russia:
- Lukashenko certainly realizes what the escalation of war by Russia against Ukraine or the Baltic states using the territory of Belarus is fraught with.
I think he is afraid of it, because Ukrainian experts directly state that if Russian troops - independently or together with Belarusian troops - move towards Ukraine, in response there will be missile strikes on military facilities and concentrations of Russian troops, and they also talk about strikes on large Belarusian enterprises, including Belarusian oil refineries, which today produce diesel fuel for Russian military equipment.
Naturally, Lukashenko understands all the threats, but he cannot do anything.
At the end of the conversation, Yevgeny Kiselyov read out a comment from one of the viewers of the broadcast:
"I know that most Belarusians are with us, Ukrainians, heart and soul. The war will pass, Lukashenko will leave, we should be brothers and we should be together."
- Thank you for your solidarity with the Belarusians, because our people are really with the Ukrainians. Glory to Ukraine! Zhyve Belarus!", - Natallia Radzina concluded the interview.