USSR breakup planned and paid for—Belarus president

Russian Information Agency (Novosti), 23 November 2005

MINSK—Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko said Wednesday that the breakup of the Soviet Union had been orchestrated and paid for.

“Such things do not just happen in politics unfortunately. A lot of money was paid for that,” Lukashenko said.

The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine met in the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Natural Reserve in Belarus in 1991 and signed an agreement, founding the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The agreement said all the members were sovereign and independent nations and, thereby, effectively abolished the Soviet Union.

Stanislav Shushkevich, the former speaker of the Belarussian parliament, who signed the agreement for Belarus, did not have the right to do so, Lukashenko said.

“This was Shushkevich's initiative. He should have received permission from Belarus' parliament for signing the documents.”

According to Lukashenko, this was a tragic mistake. He said there had been no reasons for the USSR to disintegrate. If the union were to collapse, it would have collapsed later for objective reasons, he said.

“The Alpha [commando unit] should have gathered the Belovezhskaya Pushcha signatories, wrapped them up with barbed wire and let them call and report back to Bush senior what they were signing,” Lukashenko said.