Andrei Sannikov: Opposition ready to defend the results of the election in the street

Changes in Belarus are necessary for everyone, from workers to officials.

The leader of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Andrei Sannikov has given an interview to a Russian edition “Segodnia.ru”.

- The presidential campaign has started in a rather strange way: a too early day of elections, a sudden announcement of the election campaign launching… In which way it is carried out? Has the opposition any chances to win? Are the oppositionists ready to nominate a single candidate?

- Calling election this time was a real farce. Services for dissemination of rumours have been working up a sweat since April this year: “the election is to be called very soon”, “all officials have been prohibited to take holidays in May, then in June, July…” etc.; then an extraordinary session of the parliament was called, then another session…

It was clear to me that Lukashenka will call pre-term election. It was clear that the date of the election would be close to December 25, that is, to the Christmas holiday in the West. The logic is clear: we will silence the West rapidly. And then Russia will have holidays too, and so Lukashenka will stay in power. He has failed to take into account one thing: most Belarusians, as the Russian magazine “Novaya politika” writes, want to enter the new year with a new president.

Besides, the election in December means that Lukashenka harbours no illusions to come to terms with the leadership of Russia, for instance in the prices for energy resources. He knows that under his leadership the living standards next year will drop dramatically.

The opposition is ready to change the power, and believe me, we have a high level of coordination. Everyone is ready to defend the results of the election in the street, and the results will be obviously against Lukashenka.

- What is the real situation in the country today?

- Lukashenka has quarreled with all neighbours and partners. His “economic wonder”, which was based on cheap Russian energy resources, has gone down in flames. The Belarusians’ standards of living are declining, the adverse balance in foreign trade is growing rapidly, the external debt of Belarus is growing. He has no answers to challenges of the time, and in order to stay in power, he uses time-tested methods: suppression of the independent press, intimidation of the people. But people are fed up with leadership in these 16 years.

Changes in Belarus are necessary for everyone – from a worker to an official. The readiness of the society for changes is felt physically and psychologically.

- You are the leader of “European Belarus” campaign, which sets as a goal the county’s joining the EU. You cannot imagine Russia and Belarus as parts of a single state, can you? Why? What is your vision of the bilateral relations?

- Russia and Belarus have always been and will remain neighbours and partners. We are needed by Russia, as well as we need it. In the future I see the relations of Belarus and Russia as the relations of strategic partners, which are moving towards the European standards and observing agreements. By the way, in realization of these European standards Russia is in advance of Belarus by far.

- Though there are people dissatisfied with Lukashenka, many people see Lukashenka as a figure without an alternative, as Belarusians say: “We do not have anyone else to choose from anyway.” Could this situation be changed?

- Lukashenka was an outstanding statesman only in state-run mass media of Belarus, which ideas had been often reproduced by the Russian press. In reality, he managed to take advantage of the Soviet Union’s collapse for his own good, but not for the good of the people of Belarus.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Belarus had a much better starting position than all its neighbours. Today the salary in Poland is five times higher than in Belarus. It is a rather doubtful achievement for “an outstanding statesman”.

Despite of all efforts of Lukashenka, Belarusians have not lost a possibility to think critically and soberly evaluate the results of his rule. But the problem is, we did not have elections since long, but nevertheless we will fight for power and chances for victory are very great.

- If you win the presidential campaign, will you recognize independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?

- I am against recognition of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Kosovo. As a diplomat I believe that it can trigger serious conflicts in the future. For instance, both Ossetians and Albans already have their state formations, and we cannot expect that Kosovo and South Ossetia will remain independent states.

Believe me, it is not the main question for the relations of Belarus and Russia. These are repercussions of the struggle between superpowers, and we want to build new relations with Russia. To my mind, it is extremely important for Russia to establish a strategic partnership with the European Union. In this context both Belarus and Ukraine can play a key role. And everyone is to gain from that.