Andrei Sannikov: EBRD President promised me to raise question about political prisoners in Minsk

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will not exclude political benchmarks when considering the question of crediting Belarus.

Charter97.org website was informed about that by Andrei Sannikov, leader of the civil campaign European Belarus, as he commented on the meeting of the president of the bank Suma Chakrabarti with the Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka, which was held in Minsk on February 18.

On February 12, five days before his visit to Belarus, the head of the EBRD met with Andrei Sannikov in London.

- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development differs from other financial institutions by paying great attention not only to economy, but to the political situation in the country as well. The work of the EBRD with Belarus directly depends on presence or absence of political and civil freedoms. The strategy of the bank, and its other documents formulate absolutely clear criteria which speak about impossibility of full-fledged work of the bank in Belarus because of human rights abuses and persecution of regime’s opponents. Besides, these documents speak about the necessity of economic reforms, and that the bank is going to be oriented at reforms as benchmarks of its activities in the country. The fact that the bank really pays great attention to the situation in the country, especially after the events of 2010, became clear at the meeting with the president on February 12, prior to the visit of Suma Chakrabarti to Minsk, in which I had taken part. There were also representatives of international human rights organisations there. They voiced their concern over the human rights situation in Belarus and asked the president of the bank to raise this question in Minsk, – Andrei Sannikov said.

- What was the objective of Suma Chakrabarti’s visit to Belarus?

- It was a notable visit, as for the first time in 20 years the president of the EBRD visited Minsk. It should be stressed that it had not been connected with flirting of the EU with Belarus, which are observed by us recently, but with a dreadful state of the country’s economy. Sir Suma Chakrabarti clearly stated the aims of his visit. He wanted to see in his own eyes what was happening in Belarus, as the EBRD is extremely concerned with the deepening of the economic crisis, and the situation in Russia has a significant impact on it. For Belarus, the only country of the region, a so-called calibrated approach had been approved, that is, there is no reckless giving of credits happening. Everything depends on a possibility of democratization and economic reforming in the country. It is known that none of these processes are taking place, crackdown has increased.

- What have you discussed with the president of the EBRD?

- I brought up the issue of political prisoners, and the problem that their number is raising, not decreasing, and named a concrete case of Yury Rubtsou, who was imprisoned for a T-shirt with a call for Lukashenka to resign, I spoke about Mikalai Statkevich and other prisoners. The president of the EBRD promised me that all the issues we are concerned about, in particular the political prisoners, pressure on the civil society, abuse and limitation of freedom of the media, are to be brought up at the meetings with senior officials of Belarus.

- At the meeting with the EBRD president the dictator has reiterate his role in settling of Donbas crisis…

- Another attempt of Lukashenka to use the tragedy of Ukraine cannot but arouse indignation. Even at the meeting with the representative of the bank he started to sell himself as a peacemaker, speak about some kind of mediation. Being neither a mediator nor a peacemaker, he is selling this mythical role even to the EBRD president, who had arrived to speak about other things. I think that such an unconcealed bargaining is to have an opposite effect, all the more so as Sir Suma Chakrabarti had arrived to Minsk from Kyiv, and the contrast between the two countries was stark. In Ukraine, fighting against the aggressor, economic reforms and development of the private sector were discussed, while in Belarus the the authorities begged for the money for the state, fighting against its own businessmen.

- Will the Belarusian authorities be able to receive new loans from the EBRD after the meeting in Minsk?

- The leadership of the EBRD does not see an opportunity to increase loans for Belarus in the near future. On the contrary, they will be reduced. It is connected with the stubborn reluctance of the government to reform the economy, and with the fact that the EBRD had been acting through Russian banks, as they didn’t trust Belarusian ones, and there is no such a possibility now because of the sanctions. About $200 mln won’t be received by Belarus for this reason. The EBRD won’t abandon political benchmarks as well, and won’t finance the state sector, which is persistently sought for by Lukashenka’s regime.

Photo: charter97.org