Putin’s Plans With Belarus — A Friend, or Foe?
We all know about the Russian dictator’s plans with Ukraine. In his quest to annex Ukraine, Putin has utilized a revisionist history that bemoans the lost glory of the Soviet Union.
For Putin, as was the case for other dictators before him, it is shameful to live in the shadow of this lost empire.
It’s no surprise he feels this way. Much of Russia is in a state of disrepair. As someone who was raised in rural Slovakia, I have seen what post-communist societies look like. However, Slovakia has managed to rebuild and replace many of the buildings that needed repairing.
That is not the case in Russia.
However, Putin focuses not on Russia’s roads, bridges, or public schools. His visions are grand. They have more to do with two of the most celebrated Soviet republics: Ukraine and Belarus.
Let me explain.
Presently, Putin has revealed the extent of his plan to annex the entirety of Ukraine. The most aggressive parts of this plan were exposed in 2013 during what Ukrainians call the “Maidan Revolution” (or Revolution of Dignity) when he unequivocally supported then-Ukrainian President and kleptocrat, Viktor Yanukovych.
In response to the chaos in the country, he annexed Crimea in 2014 — a peninsula that was originally…
