“Lukashenka's Time Is Running Out”: Why Did Sheiman Leave?

Rumors, fears, and warnings circulate in the dictator's apparatus.

Viktar Sheiman was Lukashenka's closest accomplice from the very beginning of his "career" and remained so until June 11, when his resignation was announced on Friday evening. The resignation was officially confirmed yesterday.

Why this happened right now and what will follow the resignation, Deutsche Welle figured out.

Yuri Drakokhrust, a political columnist for Radio Svaboda, names several versions.

"One of them is health. Another version, favorable for the protesters, is that the rats are fleeing the ship. And the third version - intrigues, as in 2008, when either Viktar Lukashenka or other young figures "ate" Sheiman, competing for overseeing the security forces (in 2008, Sheiman was dismissed from the post of head of the Security Council after the explosion on Independence Day - ed. ). Sheiman, I think, in the opinion of many, has been on this team for too long. Most likely someone outplayed him in the battle of the apparatus."

Former KGB lieutenant colonel Valery Kostka reminds that Viktar Sheiman turned 63 on May 26: “This is not an age for a politician, so there are some serious reasons. Health may be one of them, but I doubt the reality of these rumors. I am more inclined to believe that Lukashenka's time is coming to an end, and perhaps Sheiman will carry out some other mission, which is unknown to anyone except the two of them. Such people are simply not let go of themselves. If Lukashenka had planned to stay in power for a long time, Sheiman would have been there all the time.”

Political analyst Pyotr Kuznetsov also agrees that Viktar Sheiman will still have a special mission. Although, we are talking about a mission of a different kind: "There is a confidence that this is not just a resignation, it may be related to the upcoming European economic sanctions. If these sanctions are what is now expected, they will have a strong impact on the inflow of foreign currency into the country. And I suppose that Sheiman may be engaged in some non-transparent business, gray economic schemes so that the resources of the regime do not dry out completely."

“Many considered Sheiman to be a 'symbol of stability.' If the symbol leaves, then, of course, all sorts of rumors, fears, and warnings circulate through the apparatus: “Well, if Sheiman is gone, then it means that everything is not so simple,” says Yuri Drakokhrust.

Viktar Sheiman is one of the closest and most loyal officials of the dictator. Sheiman has been the imposter's business manager since 2013.

He is suspected of involvement in the murder of opponents of the Belarusian authorities in 1999: former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka, former CEC chairman Viktar Hanchar, and businessman Anatol Krasouski. Then he served as Secretary of State of the Security Council.

Former SOBR fighter Yury Harauski is also sure that Sheiman was involved in their murder.