As 2021 draws to a close, a new Iron Curtain appears to be descending upon Eastern Europe.
In the past two weeks, Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka has dropped his longtime resistance to recognizing Moscow’s annexation of Crimea. He has declared that he is willing to host Russian nuclear weapons on Belarusian soil, and threatened to block gas shipments to Europe. Meanwhile, Belarusian banks are preparing to be cut off from the SWIFT international payment system and are signing up with an upstart Russian alternative.
With Russia massing troops on the Ukrainian border and fears of an all-out invasion mounting, Lukashenka has already declared his absolute fealty to Moscow. And his recent moves suggest he is laying the groundwork for a new reality: a divided Europe with Belarus firmly embedded in the Moscow-dominated east.
In an interview on November 30 with RIA-Novosti, Lukashenka said Crimea was always “de facto Russian” and that now it was “de jure Russian.” Lukashenka added that he planned a trip to the occupied Ukrainian peninsula together with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to demonstrate his formal recognition.
This marks a sharp reversal for Lukashenka, who since 2014 had refused to formally recognize Crimea as part of Russia. At one point, he even ridiculed the logic used by Moscow to justify the annexation, saying that Mongolia could just as easily lay claim to large swaths of Russian territory.