“Kommersant”: No one is going to fight battles for Lukashenka

Belarus is seeking protection from the pressure of the West in the East.

The government of Belarus has addressed the Eurasian Economic Commission (EurAsEC) with a request to protect the county from Western sanctions. Minsk offers Russia and Kazakhstan, as allies in the Single Economic Space (SES), to elaborate a mechanism to respond the EU and US sanctions. Experts are convinced that Belarusian authorities can expect only verbal support of Moscow and Astana only, “Kommersant” writes.

Syarhei Rumas, Vice Premiere of Belarus, has made a proposal to work out a consolidated position of the three EurAsEc countries on the sanctions against Minsk, imposed by the EU and the US. He has already sent a letter on that to the chairman of the EurAsEc panel Viktor Khristenko, offering to discuss this topic and elaborate a common mechanism of responding at the nearest session of the EurAsEc. The fact of sending the letter has been confirmed to Interfax at the office of the Council of Ministers of Belarus.

Sanctions imposed by the US and the EU against Belarus over the recent years, were toughened after the scandalous presidential election in December 2010, which ended by a crackdown on opposition and arrests of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. In January 2011 the EU approved the list of 158 Belarusian officials who are banned entry to the EU. Property and bank accounts of these persons in the EU countries are to be frozen. Then the list was expanded. Now there are almost 250 persons on the list. An analogous black list was rubberstamped by the US as well. Lukashenka and his sons Viktor and Dmitry are on the top of the lists. Besides, the EU has imposed sanctions against “Beltekhexport”, “BT-Telecom” and “Sport-Pari” companies. Many people in Belarus are convinced that these companies are owned by Viktor and Dmitry Lukashenka, and their front owner Vladimir Peftiev (Peftsieu) just administers assets of the president’s family. Economic sanctions against state-owned concern “Belneftekhim” and TK-Bank (Belarus) founded by Tejarat Bank (Iran) are in force in the US. (Washington charges this bank with financing the nuclear program of Teheran).

Yesterday “Kommersant” was told at the EurAsEc that the letter of the Belarusian ruler had not been received, so the possible reaction of the commission had not been defined yet. The governments of Russia and Kazakhstan do not comment on the situation. Experts are convinced that even in case the allies at the EurAsEc support Belarus, it would be in word only. “Leaders of Russia and Kazakhstan are going to fight real battles with someone on the West for Lukashenka,” “Kommersant” was told by the senior analyst of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies Dzyanis Melyantsou. The former deputy of the Belarusian parliament Olga Abramova (Volha Abramava) agrees with him. “Is it possible for Russia to ban entry to its territory for Barack Obama or some European leader in response for Lukashenka’s having no possibility to get a US visa?” she wonders. Melyantsou is convinced that Minsk could expect only sympathizing statements of Moscow and Astana, and probably support of the Russian delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.