Back on March 16, the NAM made an official statement that the Republic of Belarus is an occupied territory, and the Lukashenko regime is a puppet government controlled by the Kremlin. On March 17, this position was voiced by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya during her speech at the UN Human Rights Council. On September 7th this position was stated in the decision № 1 of the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus.
But in spite of all these arguments, this fact still causes discussions. Specially for DW, Pavel Latushka gave a detailed comment on the official position of the democratic forces and the Cabinet.
What signs of the occupation of Belarus by Russia can be distinguished?
1) The occupant (Russia) controls the occupied territory and uses it for its military purposes;
2) there are no visible signs that Lukashenko can obstruct any actions of the Russian army;
3) Russia uses the "consent" of Lukashenko's puppet government, which has no legitimacy, to cover its actions and to avoid giving Belarus the status of occupied territory;
4) the occupation began without a declaration of war - the occupier was covered by formal legal grounds (a plan of exercises, membership in the CSTO, the Union State);
5) even the formal grounds for the introduction of troops into Belarus were subsequently grossly violated (the army of the Russian Federation remained on the territory of Belarus after the end of the exercises and subsequently attacked Ukraine). These actions allow us to conclude that the Kremlin originally planned to use the territory of Belarus to invade Ukraine. Moreover, neither the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus nor its Military Doctrine provide for participation in wars of aggression. The Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation and the subsequent Treaty on the State Border between Ukraine and the Republic of Belarus were also violated;
6) at the time of the occupation, Lukashenko had de facto illegally, by force of arms, retained power in the country after losing the elections in the summer of 2020 and was not recognized by the civilized world as a legitimate president.
Comments