FAZ: Lukashenka Finds Himself Disgraced On International Arena Again

Belarusian athletes cast sensitive blows to the regime.

The fate of the athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was expelled from the national team at the Tokyo Olympics and whom they tried to forcibly send her home after she had criticized the actions of Belarusian sports officials, worries by the German media. So far, Tsimanouskaya is at the Polish Embassy in Tokyo, and Warsaw has announced its readiness to provide the athlete with asylum. But this does not mean that she can feel completely safe - the hijacking of the Ryanair plane to Minsk, in which the opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich was, showed that Lukashenka is capable of anything, says FAZ columnist Peter Sturm (translated by dw.com):

“Sportsmen were among the first to protest after the alleged “re-election” of Aliaksandr Lukashenka almost exactly a year ago. It was a shame for the ruler of Belarus, because it was the athletes who were always supposed to serve as the hallmark of his regime. The situation escalated even more at the Olympics in Tokyo: athlete Krystsina Tsimanouskaya was ordered to leave the Games and go home against her will.

As far as we know, her “crime” was that she dared to criticize Belarusian sports officials. She opposed the departure and, fortunately, received the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). This decision was made by the IOC, apparently, relatively easy also because there are already serious disagreements between the organization and Belarus over the appointment of the head of the National Olympic Committee.

The athlete will find a country in the EU - obviously Poland - that will grant her asylum. Her husband is said to have left for Ukraine. Hopefully, both of them are really safe, but the experience of recent months shows that there is no one hundred percent guarantee of this. After all, Lukashenka has once again found himself disgraced on the world stage. And how this could end became clear at the latest after the hijacking of the Ryanair plane to Minsk, in which the opposition blogger was.”