Bill on Belarus’ responsibility for aggression against Ukraine submitted to US Senate | News from Germany about events in the world | DW

In order to keep Minsk from allowing Russia to use Belarusian territory to invade Ukraine, US Senator James Lankford introduced a draft “Belarusian Responsibility for Aggression Act” to the Senate. This is stated in a message published on Friday, February 11, on the website of the Republican Senator from Oklahoma.

The bill provides for the imposition of sanctions against Belarus or any other country that supports “Russia’s ongoing unprovoked aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

The report states that Russia has deployed about 30,000 troops near the border of Belarus and Ukraine, which is the largest deployment of troops in Belarus since the Cold War, and also deployed 130,000 troops to the Russian-Ukrainian border and sent six more ships of the Navy to the Black Sea.

The bill does not see the difference between the Russian Federation and any other country

Noting that Belarus is allowing thousands of Russian soldiers into its territory, Senator Lankford insists that “the US must make it clear that any country that supports Russia’s attempts to invade Ukraine will be subject to harsh economic and diplomatic sanctions.”

The introduced bill does not distinguish between the Russian Federation and any other state, including Belarus, which helps or assists the Russian forces in any act of military aggression that violates the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine. In particular, actions for which sanctions can be imposed are: joint participation with Russia in the invasion of Ukraine; providing material, tactical or other support to the Russian invasion; deployment on its territory of the troops of the Russian Federation participating in the attack; cooperation with Russian intelligence during the invasion; and the purchase or transfer of lethal weapons used during the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia builds up military potential around Ukraine

On February 10, joint military exercises with Russia began in Belarus, in which more than 30,000 servicemen participate. In addition, it became known about the Russian naval maneuvers that will take place from February 13 to 19 in the Black Sea, as a result, part of the water area, as well as the Kerch Strait, will be closed to navigation, including merchant ships from third countries.

According to the intelligence services of Western countries, Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops to the annexed Crimea and to the border with Ukraine. The West is calling on Moscow to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian border and is threatening unprecedented sanctions. Russia, on the other hand, accuses Western countries of arming Ukraine and carrying out maneuvers near the borders of the Russian Federation, and also demands that it be provided with legally fixed “security guarantees.” The January series of talks between Russia and the United States, NATO and the OSCE did not bring results, as did other meetings between representatives of Western countries and the Russian leadership.

See also:

• A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS

  In December 1991, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus documented the collapse of the USSR. Moscow apparently hoped to maintain influence through the CIS and cheap gas supplies. But it turned out differently. The Russian Federation and Belarus created a union state, Ukraine increasingly looked to the West. In the photo: Leonid Kravchuk, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Boris Yeltsin and Stanislav Shushkevich during the official founding of the CIS in Almaty.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Legacy of the USSR and the Budapest Memorandum

  Ukraine inherited from the USSR almost a million strong army and the 3rd largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Kiev refused the missiles, handing them over to Russia in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees (Budapest Memorandum of 1994). While the West did not reciprocate Kiev and was not going to integrate it into its structures, the reaction of the Russian Federation was restrained. In the photo: Russian and US leaders Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Cracks in Post-Soviet Friendship: Tuzla Conflict

  The first major diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Kiev occurred under President Putin. In the fall of 2003, Russia suddenly began building a dam in the Kerch Strait towards the Ukrainian island of Tuzla. Kiev considered this an attempt to redistribute borders. The conflict was resolved after a personal meeting of the presidents. Construction was stopped, but the first cracks appeared on the facade of friendly relations between the two countries.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Orange Revolution 2004

  In the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2004, the Russian Federation actively supported the pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych, but the Orange Revolution prevented him from winning amid accusations of fraud. Pro-Western politician Viktor Yushchenko became president. His victory became the starting point of changes in the policy of the Russian Federation, designed to prevent what Moscow calls “color revolutions.”

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Shutting off Ukraine’s “gas valve” in the 2000s

  During Viktor Yushchenko’s presidency, the Russian Federation twice shut off Ukraine’s “gas valve” – ​​in 2006 and 2009, which led to interruptions in transit supplies to Europe. In the photo: a Gazprom employee at the Sudzha gas measuring station, 200 meters from the Ukrainian border, Kursk Region, Russia, 2009.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The promise of NATO membership

  The key event happened in 2008. At the NATO summit in Bucharest, US President George W. Bush tried to get Ukraine and Georgia to receive a Membership Action Plan (MAP). Putin sharply objected, making it clear that he did not fully recognize the independence of Ukraine. As a result, Germany and France blocked Bush’s plan. Ukraine and Georgia were promised NATO membership, but no date.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Ukraine’s course towards the European Union

  It was not possible to move quickly towards joining NATO, and Ukraine set a course for economic rapprochement with the EU. In the summer of 2013, the Russian Federation began to exert massive pressure on Kiev, almost cutting off Ukrainian exports at the border. The Yanukovych government has suspended preparations for signing an association agreement with Brussels. Soon protests began in Ukraine, in February 2014 Yanukovych fled to Russia.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Russian annexation of Crimea

  A power vacuum emerged in Ukraine, in March 2014 Russia annexed Crimea. This was a turning point, the beginning of an undeclared war. Pictured: Russian military in Crimea (Simferopol, March 2014).

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  War in Donbass

  At the same time, Russian and local paramilitary structures provoked an outbreak of separatism in the Donbass, “people’s republics” were proclaimed in Donetsk and Lugansk, which were led by people who had come from the Russian Federation in unmarked uniforms. Kiev reacted slowly, waiting for the presidential elections at the end of May 2014, and only then decided on a large-scale use of force.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Birth of the Normandy Format

  In early June 2014, in France, at events marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, newly elected President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met for the first time with his Russian counterpart Putin through the mediation of the leaders of Germany and France. This is how the “Norman format” was born.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  “Ilovaisky cauldron”

  In the summer of 2014, the Ukrainian army began to push back the separatists, but at the end of August, Russia, according to Kiev, used its army on a large scale in the Donbass. Moscow denies this. The peak of the conflict was the defeat of the Ukrainian forces near Ilovaisk. The war along the entire front line ended with the signing of a ceasefire in Minsk in September, which was quickly broken.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  Positional war continues

  In early 2015, the separatists went on a broad offensive. Kiev accused Moscow of using an unmarked army, the Russian Federation denied everything. Ukrainian forces were defeated near the city of Debaltseve. Then, with the mediation of Germany and France, “Minsk-2” was signed, an agreement that still remains the main document for the settlement of the conflict. None of its points has been fully implemented.

• 

  A Brief History of the Ukrainian-Russian Confrontation

  The concentration of Russian troops on the border of Ukraine

  In 2021, there was a new aggravation. Russia twice, in spring and autumn, drew up its troops to the western borders. Ukrainian and Western intelligence reports about the threat of a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. To defuse the situation, a series of international negotiations took place in the West. However, the Russian Federation demands guarantees that Ukraine will not join NATO and lets know that it is not going to withdraw troops yet.

  Author: Roman Goncharenko