Leaked documents reveal Putin’s plans to annex Belarus

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to take over the independent nation of Belarus by the end of the decade according to leaked documents written by his staff. 

A Russian internal strategy document from Putin's executive office was obtained by Michael Weiss and Holger Roonemaa of Yahoo News and it revealed a detailed plan of how Belarus will be taken over by Russia. 

“The document outlines in granular detail a creeping annexation by political, economic, and military means of an independent but illiberal European nation by Russia,” Weiss and Roonemaa wrote. 

Written in 2021, the document from Putin’s Presidential Administration showed that the end goal of his ambitions was the development of a political union between Russia and Belarus before the end of 2030.

Weiss and Roonemaa noted that the document also revealed that a lot of thought had gone into the merger of the two countries, including exactly how Belarusian laws would be changed to match those of the Russian Federation. 

The new union between Belarus and Russia would coordinate its defense and foreign policies according to the Yahoo News journalists, and each country would also cooperate on trade and economic policy with the goal of furthering Russian interests and spreading Russian hegemony in the area. 

“In practice,” wrote Weiss and Roonemaa, “this would eliminate whatever remains of Belarus’s sovereignty and reduce a country about the size of Kansas, with 9.3 million people, to the status of a Moscow satellite.”

“It would put Belarusians at the mercy of the Kremlin’s priorities, whether in agriculture, industry, espionage or war,” the Yahoo News journalists added. 

The new union between Belarus and Russia would also pose a major security risk to the nations that bordered the new union, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland—all of which are NATO members. 

“To some observers, the strategy confirms what has long been obvious and, at times, openly acknowledged, by both Moscow and Minsk,” Weiss and Roonemaa added. 

Political analysts have long feared that Russia would eventually use its political and cultural power over Belarus to bring the country into its federation's fold, but few guessed it would happen so far away. 

Yahoo News spoke with the former head of Estonian’s Foreign Intelligence Service Ranier Saks and he told the news organization, “in the grand scheme of things, this document is no different from what you might think Russia wants from Belarus.”

Photo by LinkedIn @rainer-saks

“Of course, Russia will take control of Belarus,” Saks added, “But the question is if it does so at the cost of independence. It is surprising to me why this target — 2030 — is set so far ahead. Why should Russia wait so long?”

Belarusian opposition leader in exile Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya spoke out against the union envisioned in the leaked document, calling it a threat to her country and its people. 

“It is not a union of equals,” the Belarusian opposition leader said. “It is a roadmap for the absorption of Belarus by Russia."

"Since our goal is to return Belarus to the path of democracy, it will be impossible to do so in a Union State with Russia,” Tsikhanovskaya added.

President Alexander Lukashenko has yet to comment on the news revealed by the leaked document, though we should expect word from him soon as he rarely misses an opportunity to profess his love for Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation.