Very interesting interview indeed. It reminds me of the book The Last Soviet Republic: Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus. So many points are brought in the discussion, specially the history, economics and security issues. Belarus managing to keep many part of the soviet system is for sure an achievement, as it prevented its destruction, like what happened in the other post soviet republics. Certainly, that’s why I’ve seen Belarus still getting called a socialist system, in spite of its particular set of contradictions. Its market socialism having been presented as an alternative to China’s SWCC doesn’t mean a competition in socialisms, but rather a different model which we should be studying, not just for its failures and pitfalls but also its victories. And this synergy between both forms of socialism is again brought to the table by Mironchik in regards to its industrial capacity ib relation to both Russia and, specially, China. I also remember at one point of the book the author talks about how Lukashenko has been weary from the beginning about military escalation with Poland (being a NATO member and such) and it seems he sees conflict with Poland as a real possibility, if not inevitable. Looks to me like the comment was not just speculation at the time of the book, and now Mironchik confirms that Belarus has indeed been preparing for a potential conflict, specially given the history of the reactionary governments of Poland placing a target on Belarus and Ukraine. Having nukes is a sure way to avoid getting invaded and cut in half again.