Pavel Latushka: Deputy Head of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, Head of the National Anti-Crisis Management, Ambassador
How does Lukashenko help Russia fight against Ukraine?
The Belarusian military-industrial complex is closely connected with Russia and fulfills orders from its defense industry.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine from the territory of Belarus, this cooperation has acquired a multifaceted character and is of strategic importance for Lukashenko personally. Russia relies on Belarusian components in many strategic military projects being implemented.
For such actions, both Russia and the Lukashenko’s regime fall under sanctions from democratic countries.
For example, the Integral holding, which specializes in the production of integrated circuits and liquid crystal indicators, has been under US sanctions since the end of February 2022, and then Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Japan followed suit.
In July 2023, Integral announced the signing of a contract for the supply of a large batch of electronics to Russia. The company’s CEO Andrey Buinevich noted that "This step is part of the implementation of the roadmap for the development of production and development of microelectronics in the Union State".
Already in March 2024, the Integral holding signed a contract for the supply of products with the Ulyanovsk Instrument-Making Design Bureau, which is under sanctions from the EU, the USA, Ukraine, Canada, Switzerland and New Zealand as a developer and manufacturer of military electronic products that were used by the Russian armed forces in the war against Ukraine.
Recently, Belarusian microcircuits in Russia were officially equated to Russian products for the first time. So to speak, they harmonized cooperation so that when introducing further sanctions, no one would have any doubts about the need and correctness of harmonizing sanctions against Russia and the Lukashenko’s regime.
And Deputy General Director of Integral OJSC Alexey Tsivako reported that the "Roadmap for the Development of Microelectronic Production of the Integral Holding for the Period Until 2030, Taking into Account the Needs of Enterprises of the Russian Federation" was signed. Is this not confirmation of the validity of the sanctions already imposed against Integral and the grounds for imposing sanctions by the EU?
The same Alexey Tsivako reported that "The specificity of the enterprise is that we practically do not produce anything for individuals" and that "The main sales market is the Russian Federation, which accounts for about 78% of exports".
And what should democratic countries do in this case — lift sanctions and not introduce new ones? How should Ukraine react to this — not call for Lukashenko's regime to be held accountable and not notice his role? What should we do — not continue to put pressure on the insolent, lying and criminal Lukashenko’s regime and stop? The answer to these three questions is no, no and no again.
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