Military expert: Lukashenka's afraid to lose soldiers' support

Alyaksandr Alesin comments on Lukashenka's statement about possible financing of the Belarusian army by Russia, to Euroradio.

The border line between the armies of Belarus and Russia is being wiped off after the border line of the customs control. Does it mean that our soldiers may go to serve in Kamchatka or guard the Russian population in the zones of terrorism threat in Caucasus tomorrow?

Alyaksandr Lukashenka spoke about the common tasks of the Russian and Belarusian armies:

"Basically, we have the common army, as we have one and the same tasks, while the scope of material supply of our military men and the Russian ones may differ by two times. This is unacceptable."

In Lukashenka's opinion, this very fact can be considered as a ground for getting Russian financial assistance for the Belarusian army. However, the one who pays also leads the conversation. Military expert Alyaksandr Alesin tried to explain the logics of the Belarusian authorities' actions and spoke about the perspective that the Belarusian military men might face:

"If the Belarusian military men are not paid properly, they will escape to Russia, where the salaries are twice higher and this is combined with the lack of military men. Foreign citizens are allowed to serve in the Russian army on the contract basis. They will now have an opportunity to obtain Russian citizenship in the Union State. If they serve in the Russian army, they will be supposed to participate in all their conflicts as well".

It is impossible to understand clearly how this financial aid will be provided, from the Belarusian state leader's statement. Alyaksandr Alesin says that this does not mean that Russia will start paying money to the Belarusian military men:

"According to the Belarusian legislation, Russia cannot pay money to the Belarusian military men. We are speaking about saving money on other articles of the military budget. The military budget is not just the salaries".

Alyaksandr Alesin enlisted several reasons why Lukashenka was so nervous about the material condition of the Belarusian army. Among them - fear to lose military personnel:

"Lukashenka's afraid that low salaries may force our military men to emigrate to Russia - Lukashenka is trying to avoid this danger, as it is expensive to prepare officers, and the "personnel drain" is quite high".

As for the military men's support for Lukashenka - he fears to lose it, Alyaksandr Alesin thinks.

"He does not look for support, he is afraid to lose one. As real customer power of the military men decreased twice, certain dissatisfaction may appear".

Thus, it is no wonder that Lukashenka has become so interested in the material condition of the military men.