Thanks, But No Thanks: Kazakh President Rejects Belarusian President’s Offer to Join Union State
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has firmly rejected Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s recent offer for Kazakhstan to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus.
Speaking during a visit to the North Kazakhstan region, President Tokayev dismissed Lukashenko’s proposal, stating that there was no need for Kazakhstan to join the Union State since there are already existing integration associations, particularly the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
“The President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko offered Kazakhstan to join the Union State. I appreciated his joke. I think that there is no need for this since there are other integration associations, first of all, the Eurasian Economic Union,” Tokayev said.
Russia recently deployed tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. This marks the first time the Kremlin deployed warheads outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. In an interview on Russia’s state television late Sunday, the Belarusian leader said that it must be “strategically understood” that Russia and his country have a unique opportunity to unite.
“No one is against Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation,” Lukashenko said. “If someone is worried … (then) it is very simple: join in the Union State of Belarus and Russia. That’s all: there will be nuclear weapons for everyone.”
The Kazakh leader also shot down the offer of protection via nuclear weapons.
“We don’t need them, since we have joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” Tokayev said.
Lukashenko rushed to hospital after meeting with Putin
In related news, the Belarusian leader was reportedly rushed to a hospital in Moscow following a closed-door meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Belarusian opposition leader Valery Tsepkalo.
Tsepkalo said on Telegram and on Twitter on Saturday that, according to still unverified reports, Lukashenko was in critical condition, and that his condition was determined to be “non-transportable,” adding that “the orchestrated efforts to save the Belarusian dictator [is] aimed to dispel speculations regarding Kremlin’s alleged involvement in his poisoning.”
On Monday, Tsepkalo updated that “the last available information about Lukashenko’s condition and stay in the hospital was on Saturday. It is known that doctors prohibited him to fly by airplane. There is no information how, when and if he was delivered to Minsk, as the doctors signed the nondisclosure paper.”
Rumors about his ill health started spreading in the weeks after he attended the Victory Day celebration in Moscow’s Red Square on May 9. The president himself earlier dispelled the rumors and claimed that he was just down with a cold and has since recovered.
Tsepkalo ran against Lukashenko in 2020. Lukashenko has been president of Belarus since 1994 and in 2020 declared himself the winner despite widespread allegations of fraud. Tsepkalo on Monday called for Western leaders to discuss holding fair elections in Belarus, given Lukashenko’s condition.
“We urge Western leaders to schedule a strategic session for the coming days to discuss the elections initiative. We insist that the existing technologies are sufficient to hold fair elections in Belarus in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without regard to the position of the Kremlin.”
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