Uladzimir Matskevich: Europe must stop supporting the regime (Video)

“In the general strategy of the European Union towards Belarus the dialogue should be a priority,” a political analyst Uladzimir Matskevich stressed.

At the same time the expert attracts attention to the fact that the dialogue should be conducted not between Lukashenka and Europe, but between “Lukashenka and anti-Lukashenka community in Belarus.”

“Europe can be only an intermediary in such a dialogue, and a guarantor that agreements would be executed,” Uladzimir Matskevich stated in an in tervew to Belsat TV channel. The expert noted that a considerable part of the today’s authorities’ resources are of “European origin.” “Even law-enforcers, those who disband demonstrations, partially disband them at the expense of the grants rendered by the European Union for strengthening the law-enforcing agencies. They think that they give money for underpinning the protection of the law, but they have given money for violence. Such things must be frozen,” Matskevich underlined. “Europe is still feeding the regime. It is done by a little group of officials, responsible for certain little programmes, not coordinating them with the common European policy.”

It is probable that the official Minsk is losing its already little number of supporters in the EU. Thus, the Foreign Minister of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis has stated that he sees only changes for the worse in Belarus. “What is happening in the so-called new legislation process now, where the role of special services and the president, to whom they are answerable, is growing, shows that civil freedoms are shrinking,” Audronius Ažubalis stressed. What consequences for Minsk it will have? “The word of Lithuanian politicians is very important in these issues, as Lithuania is in the closest relations with Belarus. It could be called the EU ambassador. That is why the opinion of Lithuanian politicians is extremely significant, even when it is not accepted completely, it is treated with attention,” Matskevich said.