"It's Time for Makei to Pack his Thing and Be Ready for Total Oblivion"

The regime has actually lost its foreign affairs.

Lukashenka's meeting with diplomats was very uneasy. Lukashenka and Makei actually spoke openly that the West could get a new "hot spot" in Belarus, and also intimidated neighbouring states that refugees with weapons might show up at their borders. Nasha Niva discussed the meeting with Vladimir Ostapenko, former ambassador of Belarus to Cuba and Argentina.

- What was your impression of Lukashenka's meeting with your former colleagues?

- Makiei noted, "Developments in Belarus do not meet with common human understanding". That's the only thing I'm ready to agree with. All the rest, voiced by both Makei and Lukashenka, is a looking glass. Here one should either diagnose or simply give up.

After the elections, the regime finally lost its human face. An analogy with Portugal's dictator Salazar, who in his old age had a newspaper in a single copy, comes to mind.

It is obvious that the Belarusian regime does something similar - they create their own image and ignore everything that happens in the real world. They imitate surprise at the sanctions, but at the same time they forget that tens of thousands of people were hurt after the elections and peaceful actions; people were killed, thousands were convicted, a Raynair aircraft was hijacked, illegal migration was provoked...

Hence, the threatening tone with the diplomats because Lukashenka was and is afraid that the system will collapse and people will have enough conscience to stand up and "put the party card on the table". He frightens them with reorganization, cuts, revocations, specific examples of repressed diplomats.

The incumbent diplomats have two options: either to put on Lukashenka's mask or try to preserve their human face, but the latter option is already incompatible with a diplomatic post.

- What is Makiei's function now if there are no foreign affairs left?

- If one listens to Lukashenka's passages, it is time for Makiei to pack his bags and be ready either for an unhonourable old age or complete oblivion. He is unlikely to remain in that position for long. His efforts to play nice in Lukashenka's eyes are doomed to failure.